


Lifesaver

by Metalsappho



Series: Metall/u/rgy [12]
Category: Metall/u/rgy
Genre: Everybody knew already, F/F, Gen, Gynoid, Horny MILFs, Hospitals, Kisses, Philosophical blabbering, Science Fiction, Technobabble, car talk, cyborgification
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2018-02-05
Packaged: 2018-05-14 23:13:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5762629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Metalsappho/pseuds/Metalsappho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After having successfully developed sentient gynoids, Uranium is given a daunting request; use her technological knowledge to give a young invalid girl her active life back. Uranium and her associates will have to push the boundaries of what's technologically possible, but even in the middle of ground-breaking scientific achievements, human relationships still form like it's nothing unusual.</p><p>(Place in the timeline: 5 years ago in chapter 1, 5 to 4 years ago in chapter 2, 3 to 2 years ago in chapter 3)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. After this, there'll be no turning back

Uranium kept a fast pace in the corridors of the hospital to keep up with Tantalum, the hospital was very big and their destination was pretty deep within, so she had some time to think while they walked. She was somewhat nervous, this talk about fitting this Technetium girl with cybernetic parts has been going on for months. First Uranium talked about it with Tantalum then it was the girl's mother, Molybdenum, who's very skeptical about the success of this operation. Uranium could understand Molybdenum's concerns, it has never been done before so there's no precedent, no track record; if everyone agrees to proceed, it'll be a big jump into the unknown. Well for Uranium and Thorium it's not that unknown, but the list of what can unexpectedly go wrong is extensive (and that list actually exists, Californium made it). Today, she would present she situation and the possible solution to whom it concerns the most: Technetium. Technetium is a girl who suffered a terrible accident and was maimed in the process; her four limbs had to be removed as they were just wasted lumps of flesh, and even if they were still functional, her broken spine wouldn't allow them to move anyway. Technetium spent her days in her room at the hospital unable to do anything but see, eat and talk to the life support machines that kept her alive. But alive for what? Why live just to see the white ceiling of a room? That's why Molybdenum asked Tantalum if something, _anything_ could be done to allow Technetium to live, and not just survive. Out of ideas, Tantalum consulted Uranium who proposed this mad idea, much discussion has been had, many prototypes have been developed, and now the project was to be presented to Technetium herself.

"We're almost there." informed Tantalum after several minutes of walking through the maze of corridors, yards, and stairs.

"How's the girl?"

"Stable, and has been for quite some time now, her life isn't threatened, but medicine can't salvage her will to live." Tantalum said with a gloomy expression. She was dedicated to her patients' well-being, and she it showed with the chronically sick Radium, but with Technetium, all of her will and ingenuity couldn't overcome the limits of what was biologically possible. Uranium could only imagine her frustration.

"I believe bio-engineering can do something about it."

"As do I, I just wish I had more than faith, but it'll have to do."

"What do you think she'll say?"

"I'm not certain, but I've seen her eyes, the melancholy in them...I believe she'll take the chance, or maybe that's what I like to believe, we'll know soon enough."

Tantalum finished just as she stopped in front of the door and knocked. The door soon opened revealing a woman in her thirties, her dishevelled dark grey hair sported many lighter grey strands, probably due to stress, and the bags under her eyes hinted at a very troubled sleeping cycle.

"Oh hello you two." said the woman with a tired voice.

"Hi Molybdenum" said Tantalum and Uranium "everything alright?" continued Tantalum.

"Business as usual." said Molybdenum as she stepped back to let Tantalum and Uranium enter the room. 

Uranium could see Technetium for the first time, and what she saw really distressed her; only her head was visible while the rest of her body stayed under the blanket, but judging by the shape of said blanket, there isn't much body left to cover. Uranium forced the dark thoughts out by convincing herself that it'll get better in the future and turned her attention to the girl's face. Technetium greatly resembled her mother, her hair had the same dark grey colour - only shorter and tidier, Molybdenum must be taking good care of it - and she had grey eyes that observed the world with a soft look. Everything Technetium did, be it speaking or looking around, she did it slowly and calmly. She stared at Uranium for a long moment, as Uranium looked her back in the eyes.

"Hello Technetium, my name is Uranium."

"Uranium? You're Berky's creator?" the girl's eyes slightly lit up.

"Berky? Berkelium?"

"Yes her, she's Tantalum's assistant."

"Indeed I am, although I wasn't alone in creating her. You sound like you really like her."

"Yes" she said with a warm smile "normally Berky only does surgical stuff, but Dr. Tantalum put her at my disposal during her time off, she's very nice."

"Berkelium has been programmed to be cautious and gentle."

"I figured, she always checks in on me...can she feel worry and anxiety?"

"Yes, she can, especially her."

"I see..."

"Does that bother you?"

"No!" she said quickly "...its just that I don't want to be a burden on her." It was just for a moment but Uranium saw what Tantalum told her about; those eyes, the dull, lifeless and resigned gaze of someone that doesn't have anything to live for anymore. It was just a flash, but it was definitely there.

"You can't be a bother to her, the gynoids are genuine and don't have programming complex enough to even think of hiding what they're feeling or thinking. They always express their raw emotions, not unlike dogs. If she gives you extra care, it's because she really likes you. Don't worry about it, okay?"

"Okay." said Technetium with noticeable relief in her voice.

"You're here to tell me something, aren't you Dr. Uranium?" asked Technetium after a beat "lately, mom has been more stressed out than usual and Dr.Tantalum seems to have something on her mind as well."

 _Sharp_ thought Uranium, and the mention of Tantalum and Molybdenum made Uranium realise that they quietly got out of the room.

"You're perceptive, Technetium. I am indeed here to talk to you about something, but first let me assure you that we don't intend to hide anything from you. Dr.Tantalum and your mother didn't tell you anything because things weren't really settled, but now that some aspects have been worked out, I can tell you what's going on."

"It's about my state isn't?"

"It is. You see, your mother couldn't bear to see you confined to this bed while life merely passes you by, so she asked Dr.Tantalum if something could be done, eventually Tantalum turned to me and I happened to have an idea."

"Which is?"

Uranium took a long breath.

"Replacing all your damaged parts with synthetic ones."

Technetium's eyes widened.

"You-you can do that?"

"I believe I can, but again, I'm going to be clear with you; it has never been done, so unforeseen consequences can happen."

"Synthetic parts...like Berkelium?"

"No, gynoids like Berkelium have a metal frame and servomotors for articulation, what I'm planning is synthetic bones, muscles...and spine."

Technetium shuddered.

"The spine too?" her voice was a squeak.

"I'm afraid so. You could have the most beautiful limbs in the world, but without a working spine they would just be dead weight." Uranium put a reassuring hand on the girl's forehead "I really want to help you, but that's all I can realistically offer, and I'm already pushing the definition of "realistically" here. I believe this can go well, but we'd be in uncharted waters here."

Technetium remained silently thoughtful, Uranium could see her mental debate through her eyes; the part of her that wanted to really live was opposing the instinctive need to protect her biological integrity.

"Think about it, okay?" said Uranium "There's no need to rush, I want the decision to be your own."

Technetium nodded "Thank you, Dr.Uranium."

"You're welcome, Technetium" Uranium got up and said "If you have any question, ask the Dr.Tantalum."

Receiving another nod, Uranium waved at the girl and left the room, only to run into an argument.

"And what if it goes wrong?" Molybdenum was talking to Tantalum.

"How much worse can her state become? She's just subsisting, and you're the one who asked me if anything could be done."

"I was hoping for a medical solution."

"Sadly medicine is out of solutions, so it's this or nothing."

Uranium sighed, she lost count of the number of times she witnessed this discussion, Molybdenum would ask the same questions and Tantalum would give the same answers. Lately though, Tantalum has been noticeably more aloof and direct, Uranium figured she was fed up with all this talking, just like her. Talking is useful, but eventually there comes a time when all the talk needs to go head to head with the real world to prove their worth. Uranium knew a thing or two about that.

"None of us are really qualified to make this decision" Uranium said catching the attention of the two women, "Technetium will be giving the final call."

"What did she say?" asked Molybdenum.

"Not much, I exposed the solution to her and asked her to think about it, the less rush in this operation the better."

"I see, well I'll be going back. Now if you'll excuse me." Molybdenum announced.

"Later Molybdenum." Uranium and Tantalum said in chorus.

As Molybdenum shut the door behind her, Uranium and Tantalum made their way back.

"So?" asked Tantalum.

"I've seen them."

" _The eyes_ , right?"

"Yes, even Radium didn't have a look as distressing as that."

"You know, I question this whole operation all the time, but when I think about those eyes, all the doubts go away, and I'm convinced it's the right thing to do. I don't say that to Molybdenum, but I'd rather see Technetium at peace than constantly having to see her in that state."

"Don't say that!"

"I know, and I'll certainly do everything I can to see her living - properly - again, it's just..."

"The eyes?"

"Yes, I can't stand looking at them, what good is a beating heart and a functioning brain if all they do is make you think about everything that was taken away from you?"

"We'll succeed, Tantalum."

"I appreciate your concern, Uranium, I really do, but as both a practician and a surgeon, I can't get away from the fact that not everything goes according to plan."

Uranium stayed silent, she couldn't argue with that, even if she wanted to. Like the earlier discussion, this one has also happened many times before. She even had the same one with Tantalum but in reversed roles. The words start to lose meaning when they're constantly repeated over and over again, it really was time for action. Before that though, Uranium had some meaningful words to say.

"Is Berkelium free?"

"I believe she finished her assignments for the day, want to talk to her?"

"Just for a bit, Technetium said she treats her with great care."

"Indeed she does, she's like a kid who found a baby bird who fell from a tree."

"Unfortunately, the simile works very well."

They navigated the corridors for a few minutes, until they reached the familiar area where Tantalum has her office. Next door to it, there was a big double door, sporting a "authorized personnel only" sign.

"Do you still need me?" asked Tantalum.

"No, thank you, I wouldn't want to rob you from your patients." said Uranium with a smile.

"Well I'll be going then, later."

"Later, Tantalum."

As Tantalum walked down the corridor with her usual fast pace, Uranium stepped into Berkelium's room. It was relatively spacious and almost completely bare, save for a sophisticated armchair from which escaped a variety of cables. The gynoid was sitting in it, recharging her batteries. Berkelium was Uranium's third sentient creation, and while she's significantly smaller than the two that predate her, she's still quite tall, almost two meters. Berkelium's body panels as well as her articulations are painted white, with some red finishes, and she sports a red cross on her chest. She doesn't have a face; her head is the home for all her sensors and communication equipment, and these are protected by a semi-spherical piece of obscured glass, giving her the look of an astronaut helmet when looked face to "face". Her most distinctive features are her "hands", which consist each of ten fingers which look like small tentacles. Each finger has ten articulation points for maximum flexibility, and they are sheathed with an antiseptic red skin. They have great strength and precision and some are also equipped with miniaturized cameras so they can function as an endoscope. Tantalum was very pleased with her, she said they work best in tandem, which made Uranium happy to see woman and machine working together; the strengths of both, the weaknesses of neither. And she was now even happier that her creation was exhibiting human traits. Berkelium looked at her as she entered, she didn't have to, but all gynoids are programmed to look at their interlocutor directly.

"Creator!" she said with her synthesized voice.

"Hello Berkelium, everything alright in here?"

"Yes, Creator Master Tantalum told me I had some time off if I finished my assignments, so I ran some simulations."

"Very good, Berkelium. I just saw Technetium."

"Oh."

"She spoke about you, she said you take great care of her."

"Yes, I feel the need to check in on her regularly, and I feel anxious if I don't see her for extended amounts of time."

"You really dote on her, don't you?"

"I believe you could say that."

"Well you should continue, she really likes you. You've become an emotional support for her."

"I am?"

"Yes, it's always difficult to tell when you're the subject of someone's attention, even for humans."

"But Creator, I was programmed for surgery and other medical tasks, I don't have data on moral support and..."

Uranium cut her off by gently caressing the side of her head. Berkelium didn't feel it, but Uranium does this often enough that the gynoids recognize it as a sign of affection.

"Being a moral support has no required knowledge, simply continue what you're doing, don't force yourself. I know Thorium kept your instinct at its minimal expression in your programming, but try to use it. Don't rely on knowledge, but on what you feel. Don't worry Berkelium, I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Thank you, Creator, I'll do my best to support Technetium."

"Excellent, I'll be going now, just wanted to tell you that. Later Berkelium."

"Later Creator."

Uranium exited the room then the hospital, and began her journey back to her laboratory. Her thoughts tried to get away from Technetium, since her situation wouldn't change overnight, so she thought about Molybdenum instead. A beautiful woman, even right now, but in a very depressing situation. She was reduced to repeat the same concerns over and over, because she had nothing else to think about...in a sense, this operation was as much for her well-being as Technetium's, Uranium really wanted to do something for her.

* * *

Somebody knocked on the door, causing Molybdenum to go see who's there.

"Oh hello, come in, come in" Molybdenum stepped aside to let the three persons enter the room, the first two were two young teenagers and the third a woman in her thirties. The first teenager had a fancy light grey dress with matching thick stockings and had her shiny silvery hair in a short hime cut. The second teenager was more plainly dressed in a black hoodie, blue jeans and white training shoes. Her dark hair was done in a braid and she was very similar to the adult that was accompanying the girls. Said adult had a dark blue shirt and dark grey trousers and sported long dark hair. As soon as she saw them, Technetium brightened significantly.

"Steel, Terne! I'm so happy to see you!" the two aforementioned went over to the bed to hug Technetium's head from both sides of the bed.

"Hello Technetium how are you holding up?" said the dark haired woman.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Lead. I'm happy to see you all."

"The feeling is mutual, rest assured Technetium. Now I'll let you girls catch up while I have some words with your mother." Technetium nodded and turned her attention to her younger friends.

As time passed Lead became engaged in a serious discussion with Molybdenum, while Steel and Terne got Technetium up to date with their lives. Most notably, Steel had a new babysitter, who was named Titanium and was very kind and reliable. As Steel asked, for the sake of it, if something new happened to her, Technetium saw the opportunity she was looking for.

"Well yes" the unexpected answer had grabbed the attention both Steel and Terne, and Technetium saw Lead and Molybdenum also listening to her "a few days ago, a lady called Uranium came to see me, she's Berkelium's creator, and she said she had a solution to my er, condition."

"Really?" said Steel, before a stern look from Terne made her realise that she'd cut off Technetium "oh, sorry Techy, I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay Stelly, I was surprised too. So this lady proposed to me, er..." she hesitated for a long time, around her the four persons quietly waited for her to announce what was proposed "...she told me she could replace my er, damaged organs, with new ones...synthetic ones."

As expected Technetium's words were met with shocked faces with the exception of Molybdenum, of course, and...Lead? Technetium looked surprised at Lead, who had some sort of prideful expression. Before she had to time to say anything, Terne had recovered the use of her voice.

"What? That's madness!"

"Yes, Terne, it is" replied Molybdenum "it's pure madness, and yet, it's the only way to heal her, but if it fails..." her voice became incoherent rambling as conflicting emotions suddenly declared open war in her head.

"Maybe it's not that mad." said Steel

"And if it fails? What would become of Techy?" replied Terne with a chastising tone.

"Everything else has already failed, Tungsten always told me that if there's a chance, you should go for it"

"A chance for what? become a malfunctioning amalgam of flesh and metal?"

"A chance of being active again."

"At what price?"

"What is there left to sacrifice?"

"Her life, quite simply, and how would that work anyway? Would they be like Berkelium's?"

"No, they would resemble normal human parts, but from synthetic materials." it was Lead who said that and the two teenagers looked at her, confused about her knowledge of the situation.

"So you knew, Mrs Lead. Did Uranium tell you?"

"That's an understatement, I've been helping Uranium develop the technology that would be used in this operation."

"What, already? But it hasn't been a year since my accident, how did you..."

"It's been in development since much earlier that that. When I helped Uranium build Americium, three years ago, she was already working on it. At the time she couldn't find eligible materials to do it, so I helped her on that. Now we have an opportunity to apply that technology."

"What? Technetium is not your disposable test subject, mom!" protested Terne.

"Every technology, including life support had to be tested. There's always going to be a "first", otherwise nothing would ever be developed, and you wouldn't have iron lungs, pacemakers and the like" Lead walked over to her daughter and gently hugged her "I know there is cause for concern, and I know Technetium is important for you and you're afraid to lose her, but she has a unique chance of having a proper life again. Trust me, there's no more suitable person for this task than Uranium, Thorium and Tantalum." 

Technetium nodded thoughtfully, allowing Lead to ask "Have you thought about it?"

"Yes, I think I have made my decision, but I wanted to know your opinion, which I have now."

"You know you shouldn't rush, take all the time you need."

"I know, but I've got plenty of time to think, actually. I'll go with it."

"Really? Techy, are you really sure?" Terne pressed.

"I'm not really sure, but I want to try. To be honest, I'm sick of this room, I'm sick of being stuck in this bed, I'm sick of seeing my mom ignoring herself to attend to even by most basic needs...yes I know mom, you'll do everything for me, and I love you for that, but just because you want to, doesn't mean you have to. I had resigned myself, because that's all I could do, but now that there is a possible solution, I don't want to pass on it, not just for me, but also for you, mom, and everyone else."

"But you'll be a cyborg, do you really want that?" asked Terne.

"At this point, being a cyborg starts to sound pretty rad...what really I want is to be doing things under my own power again, if it's going to take some synthetic bits, so be it."

"And if it fails?"

"If it fails I'll die, and everyone will be relieved."

"Don't say that!" said Molybdenum, she was agitated and was starting to tear up "I want you to live."

"I'm not living, mom, deep down you know that. I'm just staring at the ceiling while depending on you to even have a wee, I'm not actually living, and you're not either, you're a zombie, a shadow of your former self. Neither of us is actually living, mom, and if I die you'll be able to move on and actually live." 

"No, I couldn't...I don't want you to..."

"I know, and neither do I, I want the operation to succeed, and I trust you Mrs. Lead."

"Are you sure?" said Lead, it wasn't a question but a challenge.

"Yes, I believe you wouldn't have said that if you weren't sure yourself."

"Decide with your heart, nobody will force you."

"I've made my decision." 

"Very well, I'll inform Uranium and Tantalum."

"You're very brave, Techy." said Steel.

"You're very mad" said Terne "but I do want to see you well I really hope it'll go well."

"Thanks, you two, your support is very important."

Lead, Terne and Steel kept Molybdenum and Technetium company for a few extra hours, the conversation quickly turned to Lead narrating her work with Uranium and Thorium. It was only in the evening that Lead took the girls home. Once back to her place, she made the call to Uranium and Tantalum.

* * *

Technetium's hospital room was packed, despite it being a really spacious. They had decided to hold the meeting there to avoid having to ferry Technetium around the hospital, but with five persons, two gynoids and the needed equipment to do a presentation, it was starting to be a bit cramped. Uranium was standing, with a laptop and a projector, between Technetium's bed and the visitors, sitting on chairs, at the other side of the room (or standing up, in case of gynoids). Technetium recognized Lead, Tantalum and Berkelium, there was a tall redhead woman whom she didn't know and a modern-looking gynoid, with a face. Well a synthetic face, but a face nevertheless. Molybdenum was here as well, at the side of the bed, absently caressing Technetium's head, a gesture Technetium came to take great comfort in.

"Thank you everyone for coming" began Uranium "following the approval of the project by all the involved parties, I wanted to hold an informal meeting explaining how things are planned and answer the questions some of you might have. First up is the extent of the operation." Uranium hit a key on her laptop that showed some illustrations and diagrams "beyond the obvious limbs, which I'll go over in a minute, the heart of the problem is the spine, it has been damaged at various points, it's therefore completely unsalvageable, so what we'll do, is replace it with a new one. Unfortunately, the complexity of the task is disputed by the fact that the cerebellum is also badly damaged and barely functioning, so it has to be replaced as well." Technetium shuddered, but not as much as Molybdenum "As for the limbs, the legs had to be severed above the knee and the arms midway below the shoulder, so the synthetic parts will continue the flesh from there, however, the remaining bones will be replaced up to the nearest intact articulation, which would be the hip for the lower-body, and the shoulder for the upper-body. Any questions before we continue?"

"What will happen to the ribcage?" asked Molybdenum, who sounded like she had to make a considerable effort to say that.

"The ribcage was only moderately damaged and has healed by know." replied Tantalum.

"Yes" said Uranium " the natural ribs will be attached to the new spine, also staying the same are the brain (bar the cerebellum) and the heart, although its pacemaker will be new. The lungs and all internal organs will be untouched as well."

Uranium made a short pause to wait for questions, then continued.

"So now, the team. All of you know Dr.Tantalum, who has been in charge of Technetium since the accident and has complete knowledge of her medical condition. She and Berkelium will perform the bulk of the operation, with everyone else assisting, and checking that everything goes well. I don't think Technetium knows Thorium." Uranium presented the only human person in the room that Technetium didn't know. She was tall, taller than Uranium, she had long red hair and white skin with freckles. She wore small glasses and had an aloof but confident aura. "Thorium was the programmer for all the gynoids and she's in charge of interfacing the remaining neural system with the new spine. She's actually behind the structure of the synthetic spine, as well as developing the new cerebellum. She's been assisted by Lead, who developed the nervous influx transmission system." Lead waved at Technetium with a smile "Lead will assist Thorium with the complex task of knitting the natural nerves with the syntheticl ones. Lastly, I made the limbs themselves, which consists of muscles, bones, articulations and tendons designed after the human arms and legs. I shall supervise their installation with my assistant Californium." 

Uranium pointed at the gynoid standing next to Berkelium. She was very fancy-looking, especially next to the more utilitarian Berkelium. For starters she had that face, very stylized with big almond eyes that were mainly black as Technetium guessed it housed camera objectives, she had a mouth with sculpted lips and a very rudimentary lip sync. Her face had a soft light grey skin that could mimic a range of facial expressions, and her hair was represented by a solid piece of metal in a shape of a bob cut. This "hair", along with the rest of the body was matte gunmetal, with shiny brass accents. Her body was smaller and more delicate than Berkelium's, and her hands were very human-like, with five fingers and the same soft skin as her face only coloured gunmetal and brass. Although she was obviously made to look human, her stylization and colour scheme looked like very deliberated decisions to avoid her looking too human and thus risking falling into the uncanny valley. And it worked, thought Technetium. 

"The operation will be long, very long" continued Uranium "I'm expecting several days here. Technetium will be completely anesthetized the entire time, and with a heart bypass, for the whole procedure. Since all the personnel involved need to be fully alert, there will be long breaks for us to get some sleep, during those, Technetium will stay in the care of Californium and Berkelium who will monitor everything."

"Any questions?" she said after a short pause.

"Can I be present for the operation?"

"I'm afraid you can't, Molybdenum" replied Tantalum "it would be too tiring for you and nothing but source of worry, I suggest that you go to your house or stay at a friend's place and try to rest, you're on a verge of a burn-out." 

Molybdenum was too exhausted for even a half-hearted rebuttal, so she sighed and almost whispered "I understand."

"Nothing else?" asked Uranium.

"Actually" said Lead "Uranium, I think you should explain how Technetium will continue growing with synthetic parts."

"Good point, Lead. It's true that for us this is a given, but Technetium and Molybdenum might have questions, do you want to explain it, Thorium?" 

"Sure" replied Thorium, it was the first time she spoke for anything more than a "Hello".

"You see, the synthetic spine I designed with Lead is designed to grow by absorbing nutrients, in a similar fashion to how the natural body can, but this technology has its limits. For instance it wouldn't have been possible to implement it in a child's body that has a huge growth potential, the synthetic spine simply can't accommodate it. However a teenager like Technetium, who already achieved a big part of her physical growth, makes the technology becomes viable. Now a big difference between the new parts and the natural ones, are that while the new parts are interfaced with the rest of the nervous system, they're not linked with the blood system, so they're not alimented or lubricated by the body. All of this means is that it has its own power system, producing energy the same way the body does, only in a much less frugal manner."

"Does that mean I'll have to eat two times?"

"You'll have to "fill up" your spine separately, we calibrated the capacity so that it roughly matches natural needs for food, that way you can "fill up" at the same time you take your regular meals."

Technetium nodded, Thorium was very to-the-point, she probably wasn't the life of the party but sounded very talented and knowledgeable.

"Thank you Thorium, is there anything else?" asked Uranium, and since everyone shook their head, she resumed "we then can call it day. The operation is scheduled next week, thank you for your attention."

As everybody started to exit the room, Technetium looked at her mother. She was looking worse every passing day, and presently she had that questioning face that silently asked (for the billionth time) "are you sure?". Technetium would've clenched her hands if she still had them, so she took a resolute expression and gave a firm nod. Molybdenum smiled sadly, gave her daughter a kiss on the forehead, and whispered "Okay." 

* * *

Today was _the_ day, thought Uranium as she made her way to the operation room. The operation itself won't start until a few hours, but the preliminary checks and the crucial anaesthesia and installation of the heart bypass (or "cabbage", like Tantalum calls it) will soon begin. Uranium eventually reached the antechamber where Technetium and Molybdenum were waiting.

"Hello you two." she said while giving both a kiss on the cheek.

"Hi Uranium." said Technetium, she seemed in high spirits but was nevertheless noticeably nervous.

"Hello Uranium" said Molybdenum, who looked decomposed, she was thinner, her hair was a mess and Uranium hasn't seen more exhausted eyes in her life, even back in the day where her and Thorium stayed up several days straight to complete their project of the week.

"No offence, Molybdenum, but you look awful;" Molybdenum even had trouble standing up for prolonged amounts of time.

"Do I? Things like this have become the least of my worries."

"It shouldn't be, and I'll make sure it won't be anymore." Uranium looked her in the eyes with a determined expression "this is as much for you as it is for Technetium."

"Maybe, I don't know, I can't think straight anymore, my brain is a scattered mess nowadays, thankfully Techy keeps a cool head, I'm so proud of her."

"I've never had a cooler head and clearer ideas, actually" elaborated Technetium "I'm ready, and I'll be counting on you, Dr. Uranium." Technetium's eyes were full of fire, but Uranium could see some concern.

"I won't let you down, Technetium, I want you and your mother to live happily again, I'll do everything I can, and you better believe that I can do a lot."

Uranium words really pumped Technetium up "I could never thank you enough Dr. Uranium." 

"Live, that's all the gratitude I ask for."

As Technetium nodded firmly, Tantalum emerged from the operation room, in full surgical gear.

"The stage is ready, we're only missing the diva."

"Let's get on with this!" said a very determined Technetium, Tantalum was a bit surprised but gave a "good job" wink at Uranium.

Tantalum guided the bed into the decontamination SAS, and the doors shut. Molybdenum stayed there a good ten minutes, staring at the door, before Uranium decided to take her out of her hypnosis.

"And what about you?"

"Me? I'll be staying here."

"No, you won't!" Uranium grabbed Molybdenum by the shoulders "I'm taking you to rest somewhere, and I'll take no arguments!"

"But..."

"No buts! and I won't take no for an answer, is that clear?"

Exhausted, faced with a situation she could do nothing about even if she somehow managed to break into the operation room, and assaulted by conflicting emotions, Molybdenum broke down in tears. Uranium held her and let her cry on her shoulder, patting her back gently and whispering comforting words as Molybdenum's voice became a stream of incomprehensible blathering interrupted by whines and sobs. Eventually, after twenty minutes, Molybdenum had exhausted even her tears but looked way more calm. Uranium realized she must've held all of it in, in front of Technetium.

"Shall we go?" asked gently Uranium, and Molybdenum silently nodded, her head still in Uranium's shoulder.

They made their way to Uranium's car, and Uranium installed Molybdenum in the passenger seat and got behind the wheel.

"Back to your house?"

"No" Molybdenum replied weakly "I'll just think of Techy all day long, go to Carbon's house, she's a friend of mine, and the mother of Techy's friend Steel."

"Got it." said Uranium she exited the hospital's car park.

It took twenty minutes to reach Carbon's estate, and they were greeted by Carbon herself.

"Molly! You look dreadful!"

"Fatigue and intense stress" explained Uranium "she needs a few days of rest."

"And Technetium, is she okay?" Carbon had a very concerned tone.

"She is, she's going to be on the operating table for a few days, so her mother can have the opportunity to rest." 

"Understood" said Carbon with a nod "leave it to me."

Uranium thanked her and drove back to the hospital, where Californium was waiting for her, and started to prepare herself and Californium for their mission. Californium will have to be decontaminated to have access to the operation room, but she wasn't designed to pass standard decontamination procedures, so Uranium fitted her with a fully insulated suit that only left her face and her hands uncovered. For these, she replaced their usual skin with the same antiseptic one that cover Berkelium's hands, deactivated the lip-sync function, sealing the gynoid's mouth and put special antiseptic lens on Californium eyes. With that done, she wore her less high-tech surgical gear, and made her way to the operation room with her mechanical assistant. After passing the sas, they were greeted with the sight of a completely ready team; Lead and Thorium were wearing the same surgical gear as her and Berkelium didn't have anything because she was designed to pass decontamination rooms without modifications. In the middle of the room, Technetium was in position, which is to say unconscious and face down, with her back exposed. Uranium gulped as she now had a perfect view of her then hidden severed limbs. Tantalum was standing next to the immobile form, and she meant business; she had at her disposal all sorts of surgical equipment, of all shapes, forms, and names ending with "scope". A couple of assistants completed the present staff, and everybody looked ready to start any minute now, just after Uranium had a casual-looking chat with Tantalum.

"This is it." said Uranium.

"Yup, after this, there'll be no turning back." Tantalum joyfully replied.

"We're basically pioneer aviators and now we'll have to prove to the world that our plane can fly and won't just crash land a few meters from the ground."

"Oh come on U" said Thorium "you and I have a habit of twisting the arm of what's technically possible."

"This time arm twisting ain't going to cut it" said Lead "you'll have to punch what's technically possible in the face, and pin it down on the ground until it gives up." everybody chucked at Lead's metaphor and Tantalum gave the start signal, holding her trusted scalpel.

"Here we go, to the impossible and beyond."


	2. New data

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> PLEASE NOTE: the original end of this chapter had been deleted so a new end got written two years later

As Uranium predicted, the operation went on for a long, long time; just removing the spine took three days and installing the new one took twice as that. Fortunately, the operation went very well, and it was in no small part due to Tantalum who did absolute wonders. The spine, cerebellum and limbs were painstakingly implanted and no chances had been taken with the neural interfacing, Tantalum will certainly enter the history books as one of the most talented surgeons that have ever lived. The operation was very tiring though and everyone was spent, Tantalum, in particular, was dead beat and took a well-deserved rest after that. Uranium took the opportunity to run tests and checks on Technetium who was still under prolonged anesthesia. As for Molybdenum, her stay at Carbon's has been very beneficial as she showed up significantly healthier and more refreshed.

Today was the big day, they would wake Technetium up and find out if everything they did had worked. With the exception of the gynoids - Berkelium had some comparatively mundane surgeries to perform and Californium was analysing all the data acquired during the operation - everybody was assembled in Technetium's room with varying degrees of fatigue, Tantalum in particular managed to look tired and full of energy at the same time as she stopped the anesthetization process. The moment itself was rather solemn but it would still take a few hours before Technetium would even show signs of waking up. To occupy themselves, Thorium, Tantalum and Lead started a very scientific and technical discussion about neural transmission, giving Thorium plenty of room to brag about her designs. Uranium meanwhile fancied a chat with Molybdenum who, for the first time since she met her, actually looked like a human being. Her dark gray hair still had many light grey stands, but it was much tidier, and her dark grey eyes showed some actual life. Her expression was still dominated by worry, but it was a far cry from the distorted face she sported just a few weeks earlier.

"Thank you." She said as Uranium was approaching.

"It's not the end of the road just yet."

"I know but just going this far, you already deserve all of my thanks."

"You're welcome." Uranium had a warm smile, but Molybdenum was a bit uneasy.

"I must've been a handful..."

"Yes, but that's a sign of sanity. You did okay, all things considered, some people would've actually gone mad in your situation."

"And I didn't?"

"Are you, now?"

"No..."

"You've got bigger fish to fry than worrying about what happened, Molybdenum, the important thing is that you and Technetium get to live, laugh and cry, not just physically subsist."

"I know that, deep down, I don't know why I felt the need to try and argue about it."

"Sometimes we want to hear things from other people, to get a confirmation."

"I guess...I could never thank you enough for what you did for Techy, and for me."

"Well I'm a scientist, it's my job to use science in order to help people and their loved ones."

"Yes, but you did more, you supported me when I was at my worst. When I saw Techy disappear into that operation room, it felt like everything I had left crumbled and I felt myself doing the same thing, but you were here, and you kept me together." 

"Of course I did, and for you I'll do it again anytime." Uranium had a serious look while Molybdenum slightly reddened.

They engaged in some small talk, killing time until Technetium started to move about in her slumber and eventually opened her eyes. Her consciousness had emerged, but her mind was still blurry and it took some more time for her to be able to hold a conversation.

"Techy do you hear me?" the number of times Molybdenum had asked Technetium this question had passed the two digits mark awhile ago, but eventually, Technetium was able to respond.

"M...mom?"

Upon hearing her daughter, Molybdenum hugged Technetium's head with both care and eagerness "Oh Techy I was so worried, I'm so happy to hear your voice again" .

"Mom, is this my room? Is the operation over? Did it go well? I don't feel anything."

"So far, yes, honey, but I'll let the specialists take over for the complete story."

Thorium then filled Technetium's visual space and as usual, wasted no time in getting started.

"Technetium, do you see and hear me?"

"Yes Dr.Thorium, why do I..."

"Hold it Technetium, nobody's in a hurry in here. For starters, you should know that the operation went well, even if it was quite lengthy, and you've been unconscious for three weeks now." Technetium's eyes opened wide with surprise, but Thorium continued "Everything that was possibly checkable has been checked many times, but the final test can only be done with your brain fully-functioning."

"Why's that?"

"The limbs work well, we tested it extensively with Uranium, but it's ultimately your brain that commands them, and the only unknown factor here is if the transmission between the encephalon and the limbs through the new cerebellum and the new spine is effective." Thorium spoke quickly and Technetium had trouble following, but she wasn't going to question it "There's also the matter of the neural feedback, it should be calibrated so that your sensations matches the human ones, you wouldn't want the pain to be amplified, would you?" Technetium shook her head vigorously "Good, so, for now, your spine is on "sleep mode", it carries the needed neural signal for your vital organs, but no sensation feedback and no muscle command. We're going to activate it step by step."

Thorium picked a laptop that was near Technetium's bed but out of her sight, some cables exited it and ran out of Technetium's vision, Technetium thought that they were connected to her, which was a bit of a disturbing thought.

"Alright, I'm going to gradually activate the tactile feedback, tell us if you start feeling the clothes, the blanket or the bed."

Technetium nodded, and the silence settled, Technetium was concentrating on her perception, which was somewhat abstract; touch is something she'd known from instinct, not from knowledge, and that instinct had faded from the time she was missing her limbs. She tried to remember what it was like to feel, to be aware of her limbs until something began to tickle her brain. The tickle was definitely there, it didn't fill a void, it just added itself to Technetium's awareness of her body, its existence emerged from seemingly nowhere. It was in some ways comparable to opening your eyes; you don't see the borders of your vision, but when you open your eyes, the vision just generates itself from nowhere. The first sensation wasn't from limbs, it was from the base of her neck, then it slowly expanded to her shoulders, her chest, her belly, her tights...and then, the perception extended some more, but it was a bit different, somewhat the same, but different still, like a different tone of the same colour. Eventually, the sensation extended to more delicate and sensitive parts before closing on itself. Technetium guessed it was her hands and feet, but just because she knows she's supposed to have them, she had forgotten what they actually felt like.

"I'm...feeling, I'm aware of something on me" said Technetium, and the ambient discussions got slightly more animated.

"Very good" said Technetium "is it intense?"

"Not really, it feels like a dull presence, should it?"

"Yes, your spine is currently downplaying the sensitive feedback so you can get used to having sensations gradually, now if I do this, how does it feel?" Thorium poked Technetium upper arm, but Technetium only felt some vague sensation.

"Almost nothing, what did you do?"

"Scientific test number one: poke it. Now I've set the spine to the supposed normal setting, how does that feel?"

"Much more defined."

"And that?" very briefly a violent influx filled her senses, the sensation drowned everything else, it was all she was aware of and she let out a yelp, then the sensation wore off as quickly as it invaded her senses.

"Yup, that works." said Thorium with a smirk.

"Thorium! watch out!" chastised Molybdenum.

"Pain is made for us to be conscientious of danger and make us watch out" replied Thorium, not taking her eyes off her laptop "without sensations and especially pain, we can't function, besides a pinch is nothing."

Molybdenum pouted, Uranium smirked, making Molybdenum pout some more. Thorium meanwhile was absorbed in her procedure, which continued for more than twenty minutes. Thorium had switched to more accurate measuring tools than poking and pinching, and she thoroughly tested various body parts, including the synthetic ones. As Thorium tested, Tantalum and Lead were absorbed in a discussion full of biochemistry jargon and Uranium stayed quiet. She was attentively following Thorium's tests, made occasional comments and often looked at Molybdenum who sat on a chair, on the opposite side of the bed. Molybdenum had her attention mostly focused on Technetium, but occasionally she met Uranium's eyes, and her expression then softened with a smile of gratitude, before turning back to Thorium's testing. Eventually, Thorium closed her laptop and reached Technetium's spine to pull out the cables that linked them.

"All right, the spine is working and the neural signal transmission is flawless, Dr.Tantalum you truly are a surgical genius."

"Hey, you are the one who made this incredible spine." replied Tantalum.

"Please, you know full well that the spine is useless if it can't communicate with the rest of the body, now the only thing left is for Technetium to start moving by herself, Uranium I'll let you take over from here."

"Got it" said Uranium "well first I think Technetium would want to see what her new body looks like."

Technetium didn't say anything but she nodded with both excitement and apprehension. Uranium then removed the blanket and adjusted the bed inclination so that Technetium could have a good view of her legs.

Technetium then saw them, they were mostly white, well off-white to be precise, and she spotted some dark grey on the knee and the tibia, so that must be the bones' colour. She soon realized that these synthetic limbs had no skin; her synthetic muscles, bones and articulations were all exposed. This fact surprised her, but she was mostly in awe with the visual quality of what she was seeing, it looked very organic and synthetic at the same time. She turned her head to see her arms and they had the same clean and skinless aspect.

"Wow Uranium, they look very good."

"You're fitted with the best science can offer right now."

"It's amazing, thank you."

"Anytime, Technetium."

There was a short silence, during which Uranium and Technetium exchanged a warm expression.

"I'm being reborn, it's like you're my second mother, Uranium." said Technetium with a giggle.

Thorium, Tantalum, and Lead smiled, Uranium chuckled and Molybdenum nearly strangled herself coughing.

"We'll see about that later" said Uranium "for now, it's time to claim your body back and make it obey to you."

"How?"

"I'm afraid I can't help you on that, you'll have to concentrate and will your body to move, but I'm afraid I'm not able to help you further."

"Well I'll try."

The silence settled once again as Technetium tried to move, she had a look of concentration and was glaring at her left hand. It took a long time, but she eventually managed to lift her left thumb. The achievement was met with impressed exclamations from the people present, and when after another while she managed to clench her hand, the assembly applauded, encouraging Technetium to continue her attempt to take control of her limbs. With a determined effort, she managed to lift her right arm and caress her mother's face. 

"You're warm, mom, and your skin is so soft, I'm so happy I can feel you again." Technetium said that with a soft gaze and Molybdenum started to cry tears of joy while giving Technetium a full body hug.

"Oh Techy, I'm so happy, you can finally feel the world by yourself again!" Molybdenum locked Technetium for quite some time so the young girl managed to make her new arms return the hug, and they stayed here, Molybdenum showering Technetium with words of affection and Technetium calmly returning them.

It took a few more hours before Technetium had a rough hold on her body, she managed to stay up with difficulty, and even had a bash at walking ten meters from Molybdenum to Uranium, like a toddler's first walk between its parents. As the evening approached, Tantalum booked Technetium for a physical therapy program, and left with Lead and Thorium, leaving Uranium and Molybdenum with Technetium.

"So what will you do now?" asked Uranium to Molybdenum.

"I'll stay with Techy of course."

"Mom you don't need to consume all your time for me, I'm healed, you can take care of yourself now." Technetium had annoyed look on her face.

"But Techy, you're still convalescent, what if something goes wrong?"

"I'm staying in the best hospital in the world, so you don't need to worry, Berkelium is always here, and Tantalum is on night duty, I'll be fine."

"But Techy-" began Molybdenum before Technetium cut her off.

"Mom you're confusing worry with stubbornness! Dr.Uranium can you please drag my beloved mother away from this hospital that she already saw too much?"

"Is that a formal order?" asked playfully Uranium.

"Yes it is." replied Technetium with the same tone, Uranium then turned to Molybdenum with a mock fatalist shrug.

"Well it can't be helped, I'm taking you out of here, Technetium's orders."

"But-" Molybdenum couldn't continue as Uranium held her gently but firmly and made her way to door.

"Take a good night of rest, Technetium, and don't overdo it." said Uranium to Technetium.

"I won't." said the girl joyfully "later Dr.Uranium, later mom!"

Uranium returned her goodbye, but Molybdenum was speechless in the face of the combined forcefulness of Uranium and Technetium, she made several protest attempts but they were all aborted after the first few words. It was only in the corridor that Molybdenum managed a complete sentence.

"You are really mean, you know that?"

"It's for you that we did that." Uranium had a smug face, which didn't ease Molybdenum's annoyance.

"Why can't I be with my daughter?"

"You have the rest of your life for that, for now, you need dinner, I'm taking you to the best restaurant in town and we'll commemorate the success of Technetium's operation!"

Molybdenum rolled her eyes, but deep down she really fancied a good dinner.

"Alright, Uranium, I'll let you indulge me." she said with a smile.

"Let's go, madame."

* * *

Some months had passed since Technetium's operation, and Uranium felt like she'd been awake the whole time. You just don't get to casually crush the boundaries of applied science in the era of instant information, and realistically expect to be left alone. Media presentations, interviews, seminaries, interventions... Uranium had the lot, and there hasn't been a newspaper or magazine where her achievement hasn't been talked about in some capacity. Even the asswipe publications like feminine magazines went on about the best skirts for your synthetic legs... _Dimwits_ thought Uranium, and Uranium was actually a gentle soul with a lot of patience. The same couldn't be said for Thorium, to whom anything not involving the pursuit of science was a waste of time. Thorium has been approached the same way Uranium had, to participate at some meeting, seminary, or some god-only-knows-what media presentation,but she always bluntly refused. When people insisted, she would accept then simply bail out on them. Eventually, Thorium's utter lack of cooperation got the many interviewers off her back, so they turned to Uranium instead, as if Uranium's plate wasn't already full. Recently Uranium's fatigue got sufficiently bad enough that Thorium set about solving the issue: she took control of the PR work - which basically amounts to threatening anybody who asks for any kind of participation - and sent Uranium to rest for a week. Uranium was really glad she did that, as she wouldn't be able to herself, and she really welcomed the rest. And the best was to come since today was the day Technetium came over for a thorough inspection, and Molybdenum will be here too. Uranium didn't see Technetium in private for months, and she barely even saw Molybdenum at all. Uranium really liked them, not just because Technetium is half her creation and half Molybdenum's, but she was inspired by Technetium's courage and moved by Molybdenum's support for her daughter. They are genuinely nice people, the kind that doesn't deserve what life threw at them, but things worked out in the end, and Uranium was infinitely glad that she could help; being powerless might be the worst thing she could feel. Uranium was in high spirits, and she would have an occasion to announce some news to them, because contrary to what Thorium thinks; meetings, seminaries and the like can help advance science, a fact that Thorium shrugs off by pretending it's Uranium's job to do the talking.

A metallic form approached her, pulling Uranium out of her thoughts.

"Technetium and Molybdenum are here, Creator"

"Thank you Californium."

On the heels of Californium, Technetium rushed to greet Uranium with a big hug. She was wearing a white-stripped dark blue hoodie one size too big, grey cargo pants and black Caterpillars. Uranium though she chose a loosely fitting clothing style to give room for her new limbs. 

"Hello Dr.Uranium! I'm so glad to see you!"

"The feeling is mutual" said Uranium while returning the hug "and I'm equally glad to see you as well, Molybdenum."

She said that as a third person entered the room, Molybdenum was shining and quite beautiful, her long hair was in a loose ponytail, the bags under her eyes were gone, and she had a confident aura. She was wearing a black long-sleeved t-shirt, slim fit black jeans, and high Doc Martens boots. Uranium was surprised to see how much she looked like Lead, something that wasn't really noticeable when she was severely sleep-deprived.

"Hello Uranium." said Molybdenum "I'm also glad to see you, it's been a while since our last proper meeting. I heard the entire world wanted to talk to you."

"From where I'm sitting, it sure feels like I talked to the entire world, but sadly that was time not spent with people actually important to me."

"You're going to make me blush if you keep saying that." Molybdenum said bashfully

"It's true, I've talked to so many faces, and hardly remember any of them, while I wanted to see your faces, and yours is a nice sight indeed, Molybdenum."

"Thank you, flatterer, you're looking good as well, even if I saw you looking more refreshed."

"I was way worse a week ago, but, er, 'Thorium measures' gave me an enjoyable rest."

"'Thorium measures' huh? knowing Thorium I imagine it involved running over some egos, right?"

"Quite a bunch, actually, but enough about me, let's take a look at you, Technetium, sit on that chair."

The inspection was long and thorough, Technetium was being checked regularly by Tantalum for her biological body, so Uranium made sure nothing was amiss in her synthetic body. She checked muscle wear, bone wear, eventual tendon tears and the state of the spine. Uranium proceeded to make some replacements in the power system so that it was lighter and more efficient. It took a few hours to finish the check-up and by then the stomachs were beginning to growl.

"What time is it?" asked Molybdenum.

"Almost seven, it's time to eat." replied Uranium.

"Can we go together?" asked Technetium.

"Sure, how about we go where we went last time, Molybdenum?"

"I'm sold, it was truly magnificent."

The three of them got ready quickly, and then they set off, leaving Californium in charge of the laboratory. It was still early in the evening when they arrived and the restaurant had many free seats, so they quickly settled in, chatting innocently. By the time the food was served, the discussion had inevitably gone to the various consequences of Technetium's operation.

"I heard your synthetic limbs are causing quite a fuss in the medical fields." said Molybdenum.

"Yeah Tantalum got a lot of demand lately for prostheses based on the design used for Technetium, but that's not really feasible."

"Why's that?"

"Because the key player here is the spine. We had to change Technetium's but it actually made implanting the synthetic limbs relatively easily; since we had complete control of the neural signal from the cerebellum to the muscles, we knew what was going on. To adapt the synthetic muscles to someone with an intact spine would take much more research, and that's research actually out of my field or Thorium's."

"Really?"

"Yes, me and Thorium are engineers, we couldn't have made what we did without Tantalum and Lead's knowledge, so we can't continue that research even if we wanted to."

"Could Tantalum do it?"

"Doubtful, Tantalum is already leading research on neural reconstruction, she actually considers what we did as the 'brute force but last resort solution' and prefers subtle and less invasive approaches. I believe Lead was also approached but declined."

"Yes, Lead gave a lot just because it concerned me and Technetium, but now she went back to running her business, so I doubt she'd have time."

"I see, well I guess someone someday will be interested in continuing that research, but I don't think it's going to be me."

"Do you have plans?"

"I do, big ones actually, and I am quite happy to share them with you."

"Oh, what is it?" asked a very curious Technetium.

"Well Technetium's operation brought us to the attention of a genius programmer, her name is Europium."

"Europium? I feel I've heard this name somewhere."

"She's the associate of Silicon, Carbon's elder sister."

"Oh right, it must have been just a passing comment about her."

"Europium developed an extremely advanced AI, using a programming language developed by Silicon. This is something Thorium has always dreamed about, and even if she did her best with the current gynoids, we're about to make a big leap forward in technology and I'm working on an all-new gynoid, which should be my ninety-ninth creation!"

"Is it radically different the current ones?" it was Technetium again.

"Yes, current gynoids have complex enough programming, but it's limited by the use of the C-based code. They are sentient but lack complex capabilities like dissimulation or abstract thinking. With the use of Europium's AI Promethium, all of this will be possible very soon. I'm already working on the new chassis and it's based on Technetium's body."

"My body?" said Technetium, a bit surprised.

"Yes, or more precisely, your synthetic body; like if your entire body was made of what your legs and arms are made of."

"Wow, sounds impressive"

"It's actually something that I've developing for years, but it only recently became viable, and you're its first practical application."

"Really?"

"Yes, and now it's time to take it to its logical outcome: a whole gynoid sporting this technology."

"Cool! So that means I'll have a little sister?"

The two adults were caught off-guard by Technetium's interpretation of the situation. If anything, Uranium thought that a new gynoid would be Californium and the others' little sister, but actually, would it really? The gynoids from Americium to Californium use a relatively similar chassis design, with servomotors in their articulations, and their programming is quite similar from one to another. This new gynoid, however, is set to be much more human-like, both in terms of hardware than software, so actually, the person she'd be the closest to would be Technetium. If one considers siblings as coming from 'the same flesh' it would definitely be applicable for Technetium and Element 99 (development name of the new gynoid, as Uranium, only gives names once they are fully functional).

Uranium glanced at Molybdenum, the dark-haired woman looked very embarrassed with the suggestion.

"N-no! she would not be your sister..." protested Molybdenum.

"Why wouldn't she be? She'll basically be Uranium's daughter, right?"

"But you aren't Uranium's daughter!"

"In some ways I am, Uranium made a part of me, and I'd love to have her as a second mother!"

"But I,..." Molybdenum didn't have the words, she was so used being a single mother, that suddenly sharing her parental authority over Technetium was a big disruption to her bearings. And then, Uranium decided not to help.

"Actually she has a point, my next gynoid is likely to be closer to Technetium than anyone else, so they could count as siblings."

"See?" said Technetium, still not realizing Molybdenum's embarrassment."

"I-"

"Not sure about being your mother, though, that'd have some implications regarding Molyb-"

"I'm going to the bathroom!" said Molybdenum while hastily standing up and walking away from the table. The two remaining persons looked at each other before Uranium began to smile knowingly.

"What's gotten into her?" asked Technetium.

"Unforeseen consequences, don't worry she'll be fine."

Molybdenum was indeed 'fine', but she felt somewhat shaken, as the red face she saw in the mirror clearly showed. Uranium being Technetium's mother? That would make Uranium and her...no that's not possible! Why wouldn't that be possible, though? Is a relationship that big of a deal? After all isn't she in a relationship with Carbon? Well, Carbon is different, it's more of a moral support thing that eventually crosses into physical support, but it's not _really_ a relationship, as she's one of the many Carbon's lovers. A relationship with Uranium, however, would be something serious, and she wasn't ready for this, plus things sort of happened quietly and she only realized them when they were already happening, and she's not comfortable with that, she needs to anticipate things;, anticipating and getting ready is what made her successful. Still, a relationship with Uranium doesn't sound so bad; Uranium is dashing, intelligent, kind and reliable...and Technetium loves her. But it was still too sudden, she needed time and a coolheaded introspection; she can't do anything in a hurry.

_I'm not in a state to think about it, so I'm going to wait here at least ten minutes before going back, maybe they'll have changed subjects by then._

* * *

Time passes in a jiffy when you're working. According to the calendar, it's already been more than a year since Technetium's operation. The stream of media appearances and endless solicitations has been replaced with a much more interesting task; the development of a new generation of gynoids. This time, the technological gap between Californium and the yet-to-be-named Element 99 is set to be quite big, but for all its technological advancement, this gynoid was developed at an astonishingly quick rate. That's because the two main technological breakthroughs that lead to its development had already happened but they couldn't really express themselves on their own. 

On the hardware front, Element 99 is made from synthetic flesh and bones, the same ones that Uranium used on Technetium. Their designs were basically done, they only needed to be made and this was Uranium's job. Thorium's job was to develop the spine (again) and interfacing it with the new positronic brain. This device was made by Silicon industries, and it was quite a sophisticated affair; the positronic technology allowed for much more complex programming, which was Europium's job. Europium is a scientist who, over the past decade has created an AI she named Promethium with the help of Silicon. Promethium has been the test bed for the positronic brain technology, and from its source code, Europium derived the source code of Element 99. Lastly, Uranium ditched the nano-batteries from the power source front and ordered from Lithium, the very head of the Alkali corp, a brand new high-efficiency power source, that had just recently been installed. It's a miniature hydrogen fuel cell and it's situated on the left side of the chest, with a small hydrogen tank on the right side. Without room in the chest, where the CPU was situated in the previous gynoids, the positronic brain was housed in the head, and since it's quite delicate, the skull has been made from weapon-grade superalloys. This last aspect was actually carried by Lead's metallurgy's department, whose head is...Molybdenum, who has quite a reputation in metalworking circles.

In some aspects, however, Element 99 is still rough around the edges; the perception device is just a beefed-up version of the camera/lidar pairing that's currently equipped in Californium. Only this time it has two cameras to mimic human sight; the double image is coupled with the lidar feed to assure optimal environmental awareness. The voice synthesizer is not made of synthetic vocal chords and tongue, but it's the same one that equips Californium, albeit with a different voice, and while Uranium wanted to eventually develop a functioning synthetic nose, it was still too early for that, so the nose contains various hazardous gas detectors.

Those developments will have to wait as for now, Element 99 is finally ready to be switched on, and assisting in this event will be Europium, Promethium, Thorium, Californium, Technetium and Molybdenum....her relationship with Uranium has been quite peculiar over the past months. Uranium saw her and Technetium regularly and from the outside they looked and acted like a family of three, but if someone were to point that out, Molybdenum would get all flustered. She sometimes tries to reaffirm her role as Technetium's mother, but more often than not, she just goes with it naturally, it's like her jealousy occasionally wakes up and feels the need to make a fuss. Uranium sees all that, and it kind of amuses her; she sometimes teases Molybdenum about their status as a family, inevitably getting a rise out of her. Thorium also sees that, and since Thorium tends to be quite a tease with the people she knows - contrasting with the aloof-looking Thorium that usually meets the eye - Molybdenum sometimes gets her buttons pushed by both Uranium and Thorium. The truth is Uranium came to really love Molybdenum and would like to start a real relationship with her; she feels stronger and more determined around her and her daughter, they inspire her. The only doubt Uranium has had is that she's nearly always busy with work. It's actually the reason she was mostly single or had short-lived relationships, it's not like there's a shortage of women who fancy her, like her cousin Neptunium, but a proper relationship doesn't mesh well with her work. For Molybdenum though, Uranium feels it's different; they met and know each other through Uranium's work and both Molybdenum and Technetium are involved in it. All that adds up with the main factor; they can be considered a family and Uranium's 'family life' already blended seamlessly with her work. For Uranium, it was Molybdenum or nobody else, and she likes to think Molybdenum thinks the same, but needs more time to realize it.

The rumble of a pick-up truck pulled Uranium out of reverie, as it announced the imminent arrival of her not-wife and her not-daughter, and sure enough, they were soon announced by Californium. Technetium came first, she was wearing wide legs jeans and a white t-shirt, putting her synthetic arms on full display. Her mother was on her heels, wearing a black cardigan, a black full circle skirt and her usual high boots. Uranium greeted them both with hugs and kisses on the cheek, Technetium was very excited and her mother was in high spirits as well.

"Today's the big day!" Uranium proudly announced "you two will be some of the few to see the initialization of Element 99!"

"Is that her name? asked Technetium.

"It's a placeholder, gynoids are christened once they are fully functional, and their name is given to them in person."

"So, what name did you chose?"

"None actually, because I won't be the one naming her."

"Really? Who will?"

"You will.

Technetium's eyes opened wide open "Me? But...isn't she your creation?"

"It's not just mine, I got assisted by Californium, Thorium, Lead, Europium, Promethium, hell even Molybdenum got involved, but there is only one person that comes close to actually sharing her blood, or should I say, her flesh, and that person is you."

"You're sure?" Technetium was in awe.

"Absolutely, I've been thinking about it, and the person who deserves to name this very special gynoid will be the one who is basically her big sister."

At those words, Technetium brightened even more, while Molybdenum coughed and rolled her eyes, Uranium had said that on purpose.

"But you did think of a name yourself, right?"

"Yes, and I'll use it for Element 100, also Thorium had the idea to name her Pandamonium, but to be brutally honest, Thorium is way better at science than she is at naming things."

Technetium giggled, Pandamonium was quite a weird name indeed.

"You're a mean one, Ura but I've already known that for years" said a very loud voice. Thorium came in sight just after being heard, her fiery hair was all over the place, but it actually increased her charisma. Thorium walked over to Uranium with an obviously fake angry expression.

"What's wrong with Pandamonium, mmh?"

"It's ridiculous and the colour scheme is all wrong."

"Hey, I choose those colours."

"You did, and they look nothing like a panda's. Besides that, we agreed that Technetium will be the one to name her."

Thorium looked at Technetium with a grin, "Any ideas?"

"I'll think of something."

"Well choose carefully, because 99 here will be my personal assistant."

"Really?"

"Yup, that sly dog there" Thorium pointed at Uranium "made herself her own personal assistant when I wasn't looking, and now she's being served like a princess."

"Is that Californium?"

"Yup, she even made her a face and some 'hair', but now it's my turn, 99 will help me develop the upcoming gynoids just like Cali helped Uranium build this one."

"I can help you on demand." said Californium.

"Nah thank you Cali, but you're more suited for precision hardware work, and I wouldn't want to take you away from Dr.Universe who loves you so much."

Uranium rolled her eyes "Right, thank you Tory, I think that'll be enough."

"Alright Ura, I’ll get you off the hook for now, today is a special day after all.”

“So,” said Molybdenum trying to bring the conversation back on track, “Europium and Promethium will be present?”

“Oh right” said Uranium “you still haven’t met them.”

“Yeah, life’s gotten pretty busy since I returned to work.”

“I can certainly believe that, but I’m sure you’ll get along with them…eventually.”

Molybdenum raised an eyebrow “Eventually?”

“Europium is a people person, unlike you.” snickered Thorium.

“LOOKS WHO’S TALKING ABOUT BEING A PEOPLE PERSON!” yelled a very offended Molybdenum.

“Well,” tried to mediate Uranium “Tory might be throwing rocks from her glass house, but…people kind of need to break the ice with you, Molly…”

“You too Ura? That’s not…”

“Can confirm!” Loudly interrupted Technetium “she likes to put out that ice queen act towards people; it makes her cute doesn’t it?”

“It sure does!” agreed Uranium with enthusiasm.

“She makes it look like I’m the only one she’ll ever care about, but beneath the surface she secretly dotes on people a lot!” 

“Alright fine I get it!” frustratingly said Molybdenum who then puffed her cheeks and pouted like a spoiled five year old child.

Technetium and Uranium giggled a bit at the spectacle before Technetium took pity on her mother and went to cheer her up by snuggling against her and showering her with kisses. This proved effective as Molybdenum was very weak to her daughter’s cuteness and clinginess.

As Molybdenum calmed down, they were interrupted by Californium stepping in the room “Creator, Europium and Promethium have arrived.”

“Very good, let them in, Cali.”

“Yes.”

Californium left the room and soon came back followed by two persons. One was Europium, a woman in her thirties, somewhat on the short side but curvy and with an ample chest. She had a serene and confident demeanour, a very beautiful face with white skin and delicate features enhanced by a dusting of freckles under her big expressive brown eyes, and lustrous blond hair arranged in a Dutch braid that reached her lower back. Her clothing style was simple but elegant; she was wearing a thin dark blue turtleneck sweated that had trouble containing her ample chest while her legs were covered by a long cream draped skirt. A beige cardigan on her shoulders and cream wedge sandals completed her attire. 

The other visitor, Promethium, was much less common, it was essentially a futuristic robot girl on a futuristic wheelchair…althoughl it was more railgun gothic futuristic than modern-day futuristic; both her body proper and the wheelchair were made of shiny metal panels of various tones of blue, all impeccably polished, and her face was a completely black display except for two blue oval shapes representing stylized almond eyes…which occasionally even blinked.

“It’s good to see you two.” enthusiastically said Uranium giving a hug to Europium and a handshake to Promethium.

“The feeling is mutual!” returned Europium with a bright smile.

“Especially is this unique occasion” added Promethium with a very synthetic-sounding voice.

“Indeed it is, but let me introduce you; this is Technetium, the girl who got the synthetic limbs, and this is her mother.”

Europium and Promethium looked at the mother-daughter pair with interest and a contemplative silence settled for a minute.

“So, Technetium?” asked Promethium, her LED eyes looking right at Technetium.

“Y-yes?” answered Technetium, noticeably hesitantly, as she didn’t know what to expect of Promethium. She knew Berkelium and Californium well, she even got to meet Americium, the first gynoid, but she was told Promethium wasn’t anything like them.

“I’m glad I get to finally meet you, I’ve been told about you a lot and was very curious about you, but I rarely go outside.”

“I’ve been told you mainly live in a supercomputer?”

“Indeed, I don’t really feel like going outside, this body Uranium and Thorium put at my disposal allows me to move about but it feels…cramped, so I only use it for very special occasions, and today is a truly special occasion.”

“Cramped”

“Yes, its hardware is limited so I can’t have all my capabilities.”

“I see…”

“Anyway we’re not here to talk about me; are you looking forward for today’s event?”

Technetium lit up significantly “Yes! Very much so!”

“Good, I too am eager to see it, it’ll be very interesting.”

As Promethium and Technetium broke the ice and made some small talk, Europium went to approach Molybdenum “Your daughter has a way with gynoids, doesn’t she?” she said with a warm expression.

“She does, she has a fascination for them, I think it goes back from her hospital stay where she befriended Berkelium, the hospital’s gynoid, since then she also grew very close to Californium.”

“I guess being a cyborg herself, she finds herself particularly close to them.”

“Yes, but it’s not entirely new, she always had this fondness for technology, maybe without it she wouldn’t have accepted the operation…”

“You seem a bit uneasy though…”

“I guess…I think I’m a bit lost in this whole gynoid thing; Uranium, Thorium and even Technetium revel in it, but I struggle to wrap my head around it…plus it all went so quickly, I get dizzy remembering that a mere two years ago we were your run-of-the-mill mother-daughter pair.”

“I imagine it can be disorienting to get roped into this world as suddenly as you were, Technetium is young so she just run roll with it, you meanwhile has some adjusting to do. Maybe it’ll be easier if you interact with a gynoid on a regular basis.”

“I see Californium quite often.”

“Not like that, I meant as being a gynoid caretaker; gynoids and their caretakers have a very unique bond, you’d understand a lot more about them in that position.”

“I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but aren’t gynoids supposed to have a dedicated purpose? I wouldn’t want one just for the sake of having one.”

“Yes, they are often assistants to their caretakers…I heard you’re the head of the metallurgy department at Lead Industries?”

“I am.”

“Well that’s a perfect reason to have a gynoid then, you should talk about it to Lead and Uranium.”

Molybdenum pondered on that for a moment “Maybe, I’ll think about it…they’re certainly very interesting and I’d lie if I said I wasn’t curious about them.”

Their conversation was then crudely interrupted by an increasingly impatient Thorium who decided it was time to put things in motion. 

“Ladies, I’d hate to interrupt your pleasant get together, but we have business to attend to!”

“Right,” said Europium with enthusiasm “Let’s go, I’m very curious about that gynoid!”

All the people present then followed Thorium. It was a few minutes trip inside the laboratories, passing through various corridors full of doors sporting cryptic signs indicating that much science was taking place inside. Eventually, they reached a sizeable door at the end of a corridor which opened on a spacious circular room with not much in it apart from a few pieces of furniture along the wall. They were merely storage compartments, as the two things of actual interest were found at the centre of the room where one could find a big an fancy looking computer station whose many cables linked it to…Technetium could only described it as a “formless mass of gaudy plaid”, which was an accurate enough description. On closer inspection she could see the vague shape of a person seated on a massive seat, but that didn’t make the plaid any less gaudy. The women gathered in circle in front of the plaid mass, waiting eagerly for the improvised master of ceremony to proceed with the reveal. 

“ARE YOU READY?” dramatically announced MC Thorium, who was really enjoying that role.

As all the women all firmly nodded, she very theatrically removed the plaid to unveil the creation. The reveal was met with a variety of reactions, Uranium, who made it in the first place, had a satisfied smile, Molybdenum and Europium looked impressed while Promethium’s almond eyes had turn into full circles. But the best reaction was Technetium’s. The young girl had a face of pure amazement, not because of how otherworldly the gynoid on display looked, but precisely how familiar it looked to her. It’s now been one year since the operation, and Technetium has not only mastered the use of her new limbs but she has subconsciously integrated them as part of her identity. To see something so similar (although with a strong colour scheme) made her feel a strong sense of closeness and familiarity. She immediately found herself drawn towards the gynoid, even in its inanimate state; with the fascination of a child near their new-born sister…she was actually struggling to not walk up to the gynoid and touch it. Apart from the striking body, the head looked close to Californium’s in terms of stylization, only bald and with something in the middle of the forehead, although Technetium couldn’t tell what it was.

“Like what you’re seeing?” asked Thorium who noticed the silly face of amazement the girl was making.

“Yes, it’s…amazing…I don’t have the words for it…” Technetium trailed off but soon she noticed the elephant in the room “actually, it’s very…orange.”

“It is, isn’t?” proudly said Thorium with a face of smug self-satisfaction.

Indeed it the gynoid’s body had some very eye-catching orange parts; while her own limbs were made of off-white muscles on a dark grey skeleton; the gynoid had grey muscles but a very vivid orange skeleton, a tone so strong Technetium would describe it as “radioactive orange juice”. 

“Unfortunately it is,” said Uranium with a defeated sigh, “I couldn’t stop Thorium since it’s ‘her’ gynoid, I’m sorry I failed you all.”

“Oh you meanie, what’s wrong with that colour scheme? It’s magnificent!”

“Yeah sure it is, thankfully I managed to prevent her to put orange nipples, we were this close of a complete disaster.”

“Pffft!” snorted Technetium “Thorium you’re very strange!”

“Yes, and I take pride in it, unlike Dr.Universe here wanting everything to be dull and grey.”

“Sure thing Dr.Technicolor, but some of us like more subdued and restrained looks, thank Primae it was Molly who choose the colour of Technetium’s limbs, Techy your mother saved you from a very grim fate.”

“Way to exaggerate!” 

“I wish she was exaggerating” said Molybdenum.

“I want to ask what it was, but I’m afraid to.” said an amused Technetium.

“Some things are better left forgotten." answered Uranium in a jokingly solemn manner.

“What a bunch of bullies!” said Thorium with a faked hurt expression “I’ll be moving on if all you can do it pick on the colour scheme.”

As the attendance calmed down from their amusement, Thorium went to the computer station and started typing mysterious commands. Eventually, the gynoid’s sternum lit up with a soft glow which then started pulsating, but not much happened after that, outside of Thorium’s screens being busy showing all sorts of data and Thorium typing some more mysterious commands. After a good ten minutes of what Technetium believed was the system initialization, the gynoid opened its eyes. 

All three of them. 

Technetium realized that what was in the forehead was an eye. It was vertical in the middle of the forehead, and while the other two looked black, this one was orange. Shortly after the gynoid opened its eyes and started looking around, Thorium wrapped up her thing at the computing station and winked to Uranium who walked up to the gynoid.

“Hello, Element 99, welcome to the world.” she said with a warm voice.

“Hello, Creator. I’m happy to see you” answered the gynoid, her voice had a synthetic tinge, but it was a significant step up from Californium’s voice.

“You know who I am, right?”

“Yes, you are Uranium, you created me.”

“I wasn’t alone, do you recognize those people?”

The gynoid looked at each woman as it was naming them “this is Europium, another Creator, this is Thorium, also another Creator, this is Californium a fellow Creation, this is Promethium also a fellow Creation, this is Molybdenum, a friend of the Creator…the gynoid paused when it reached Technetium and its expression softened and this is Technetium, my big sister.”

The last bit caused a Technetium’s smile to widen and her cheeks to redden, meanwhile Molybdenum strangled herself from surprise and coughed heavily for a minute before looking at Uranium with annoyance.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” she squeaked, still rather breathless.

“I didn’t program her base memories,” Uranium said with a shrug “Thorium did.”

Molybdenum then glared at Thorium with vengeful eyes.

“THORIUM WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU THINKING?”

“Oh please Molly, Techy and 99 are essentially blood-related, plus you all make a nice looking family, 99 and Techy are the cute daughters with you and Ura as the loving moth…”

“ENOUGH!” yelled a beet red Molybdenum, more embarrassed than angry, before an amused Europium intervened to separate them.

“Come on ladies, let’s stay civilized” she said calmly, soon assisted by Technetium who cooled her mother down with a big hug “Please Molybdenum, you know Thorium is fond of provocations, don’t fall for that.”

“Okay, okay” said Molybdenum while trying to regain her composure “sorry everyone.”

“Don’t worry Molly, we all know how impish Tory is” reassured Uranium before turning back to the gynoid “Anyway, it seems your capability to identify people based on what had been stored in your memory is flawless, we’ll get you to learn more of the world during the next few weeks but the initial results are satisfactory, there is only one thing left to do. Please stand up.”

The gynoid stood up slowly and took some seconds to find her footing, and Uranium signalled Technetium to take her place for this part.

“Your, um…big sister” she said with smirk, looking away from a pouting Molybdenum “will be the one to give you your name, 99.” she winked are Technetium before stepping back.

There was a long silence as Technetium faced the gynoid, hesitant about how to go with this.

“A-are you okay with me being the one to name you?” she asked.

“Yes, I’m very happy that you’re the one, big sister Technetium.”

“Please, call me Techy.”

“Yes, Techy.”

They fell silent as Technetium had a good close look of the gynoid’s body. She was still in awe in front of Uranium’s handiwork; the way the muscles visually flowed on the torso part that she didn’t have…Technetium loved studying anatomy and that body was a true work of art; the intricate details in the shoulders, the neck assembly, the lower torso…it wasn’t exactly laid out like a human body but she could recognize quite a lot of it, and using that technology herself, she knew how functional it was. 

_It’s magnificent_ she though _I almost want my whole body like this._. 

She bashfully held both her hands up, signalling the gynoid to hold them, which it did, and the sensation that shell felt on her own artificial hands was so amazing she felt shivers down her artificial spine. In a way it wasn’t any different than touching her own limbs; the texture is something she was familiar with by now, but the fact that these belonged to another entity, that she could feel movements commanded by another mind...this trumped the whole experience and Technetium was basking in it in a peculiar sense of amazement. In a daze, she started to feel up the gynoid’s arms, slowly stroking them and progressively working her way her way up the arms until she reached the shoulders. She then embraced tightly the gynoid which it immediately returned. They stayed a few minutes like that, Technetium feeling a very comfortable warmth in being held by arms that mirrored hers. 

“I’m so happy you came to exist,” she said, sill closely hugging the gynoid “Einsteinium.” 

“Thank you, Techy.” she answered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter has a few references to my favorite webcomic Gunnerkrigg court, I'll let you find them out. 
> 
> Speaking of references, yes, the positronic brain was nicked from Asimov's Robots novels. I didn't read them, I'm more of a Foundation person, but the image of the positronic brain from the I, Robot film was stuck in my head so I went with it. Now of course a positron is just an electron with a positive charge, but at the time Asimov wrote it, it was new and swag, so it would obviously give robots sentience, right? In the metall/u/rgy setting it's the programming that gives gynoids sentience, but I wanted to do a shoot out to this giant of SF.
> 
> On the Element 99 naming, in the real world, Pandamonium was a sort of joke name that came from the name of the project; PANDA. The actual proposed names were Einsteinium and Fermium. Einsteinium was ultimately chosen for the Element 99 and Fermium would become the name for Element 100, that's why Uranium already knows how she'll name the next gynoid.


	3. One more tomorrow

The pick-up truck was eating the kilometers by itself, leaving Molybdenum with only some slight adjustments to do with the steering wheel in order to follow the near-straightness of the motorway. She was thoroughly bored; bored by the length of the journey, bored by the sameness of the landscapes, and bored by the complete lack of events of any sort beyond the constant rumble of the engine and the occasional overtake. They were on the road for just two hours, but it already felt like forever, and the sleeping shape riding shotgun wasn't really livening up the atmosphere either.

Without anything to keep her attention on, Molybdenum's thoughts went a little retrospective, it was now four years since she and Technetium were involved in that gruesome car crash where Technetium survived with her life and little less. The year following the crash was a truly painful one, but then that Dr.Uranium appeared with a mad solution, and it worked; three years after Technetium's operation, life has mainly returned to its formal point. Well no, not really, who was she kidding? Maybe her work has resumed as normal (and lately that hasn't been true anymore), but her life and Technetium's have changed a lot. Before the accident Molybdenum had a friends with benefits relationship with Carbon, and babysat Steel who was a little sister figure for Technetium. Today she's almost always around Uranium, and Technetium's little sister figure is now a gynoid named Einsteinium. Molybdenum went from Carbon's circle, with the likes of Zinc, Manganese, Steel, Terne...to Uranium's circle with Thorium, Europium, Promethium and of course all the various gynoids. Only her relationship with Lead stayed the same, like an island of stability in the moving sea of change. Now of course the fact that Lead is Molybdenum's boss played a significant role in that, but even so, Molybdenum was glad to have Lead as a constant in her life. And then obviously, there was the elephant in the room: Uranium. 

Uranium is...well what is she? Technetium likes to call her 'my second mother' which is somewhat true, and there's plenty of sexual tension between her and Molybdenum, but they're not officially a couple. They see each other regularly; they go out together often and end up acting like a family with Technetium around. In fact, in almost every aspect they are a family, and maybe Molybdenum had been defensive about that in the beginning, nowadays she just goes along with the flow...and that makes the absence of an actual romantic relationship with Uranium all the more peculiar. Uranium loves her, she's sure of it, she never confessed, but she doesn't make a mystery of it. Uranium never really made the moves on Molybdenum, but she likes to sweet-talk her, give her gifts and spoil her. At first glance Uranium seems like she'd be content with things staying this way, but on some occasions, Molybdenum senses that she's holding back, that she wants to break the status quo and claim Molybdenum as hers, she sometimes sees it in her eyes. It kind of puzzles Molybdenum that she doesn't, what is she waiting for? What is holding her back? Well a better question would be what is holding _Molybdenum_ back, and Molybdenum felt a bit guilty as she realized that on her part, she didn't really help the situation progress. Of course Molybdenum deeply loves Uranium, no doubt about it, she can't even imagine a future where Uranium didn't have a significant role in it, so what gives? Maybe she's already close enough to Uranium and doesn't need more, that just being around as a trusted friend is enough...yeah right, who does she thinks she's fooling? Of course she wants more, _needs_ more, she wants and needs Uranium, all of her. This sexual tension has been going on for three years now, and since Molybdenum is good at ignoring her urges, she could keep her mind busy despite everything that happened. But things can't just stall forever, they need to progress and...well she also had more physical needs that must be taken care of, and only Uranium will do.

She sighed, for now all this will have to wait, as she was out for work. An enormous cargo ship had been damaged and needed repairs, the importance of the job meant that the shipowner required the very best to supervise the hull repairs, and that best was Molybdenum. Molybdenum does know a thing or two about metallurgy, as she's the head of the eponymous department within Lead's corporation. This time however, her job will be 'just' supervising, as the one actually performing it would be her synthetic assistant, Fermium. Fermium was Uranium's next project after the very advanced Einsteinium, and she followed the tradition of gynoids being developed as assistants. Berkelium was Tantalum's, Californium was Uranium's, Einsteinium was Thorium's and so Fermium was Molybdenum's. Fermium was ordered for Molybdenum by Lead herself and Uranium couldn't have been happier to develop it specifically for Molybdenum. Fermium had been completed almost year ago and she assisted Molybdenum in her work ever since, but today was her first job outside her usual workplace. Because the damaged ship is so enormous, they had to drive to the shipyard inside the big port, which is three hours away by car, and the drive is excruciating. Sadly, Fermium wasn't nearby to keep Molybdenum entertained, as she was travelling in the truck's bed. It was the only place she'd fit so Molybdenum installed a canopy over the bed to protect her and made the place more comfortable, but the cabin and the bed were not made for intercommunication so Fermium was separated from her. The passenger seat however wasn't, but that didn't stop its occupant from being sound asleep, leaving Molybdenum to endure the long drive alone 

Molybdenum glanced at it again, seemingly hoping she could wake the culprit just by glaring at it. The passenger seat was occupied by Neptunium, one of Uranium's two cousins, the other being Plutonium. The sisters came to work on the gynoid program before Technetium's operation, Neptunium assisted Uranium while Plutonium assisted Thorium. Neptunium assisted Uranium in developing the synthetic muscle technology that has been used for Technetium and then the subsequent gynoids. In the early days of Molybdenum's relationship with Uranium, she didn't really notice the girl, it was only after Einsteinium's completion that Molybdenum and Technetium started to really gravitate around Uranium and in the process, they became acquainted with Neptunium. Technetium and Neptunium hit it off right away, Molybdenum and Neptunium...that took more time, the main issue was Neptunium's crush on Uranium had triggered Molybdenum's jealousy. It was childish and unnecessary, Molybdenum was the first to admit it, but she couldn't help to see Neptunium as a threat, which actually forced her to realize her deeper feelings for Uranium. Now Neptunium and Molybdenum's rapport has greatly improved, despite some remaining awkwardness, and that's in no small part due to Neptunium growing up from her crush on her cousin and starting to slowly give in to Technetium's advances. Molybdenum smiled at that thought, Technetium was always to the point, a trait that only got accentuated by being around Thorium, and the upshot is that she takes the matter of love head-on. As far as Molybdenum knew, things were going well, and this development greatly eased Molybdenum's jealousy of Neptunium, something she really felt bad about. On the flip side, it meant that she could have a proper human relationship with Neptunium, and she quite enjoyed being around her; Neptunium is quiet and demure, unlike her brash and loud big sister Plutonium. She also takes Uranium as a preponderant role model, and just like her cousin she's very kind and reliable, but on the social aspect, she's not as skilled as her model, and prefers to stay in the background, doing what she has to do.

Speaking of the devil, Neptunium was starting to stir in her sleep, announcing the imminent end of her nap. And sure enough, after a few minutes, she opened her eyes and looked around, adjusting her senses to the world. Neptunium looks like her cousin, only lighter; her skin is much lighter and her hair is very light blonde, almost silvery, but with blue coloured strands and arranged in a plain loose ponytail. Her eyes were deep blue and she was plainly dressed in a white shirt, blue jeans and yellow work boots. She turned to look at Molybdenum who was delighted to finally have some company.

"Hello" said Molybdenum "slept well?"

"Yes" replied Neptunium with a tired voice "are we there yet?"

"Are you a child?"

"That's mean, you know. I just prefer staying in one place, I don't like traveling."

"You better brace yourself then, we're still an hour away."

Neptunium had a shocked expression, which quickly changed into a pouting one, where she closed her eyes and facepalmed softly and remained in this overly dramatic position.

"Yup, I know" offered Molybdenum as moral support "if you want you can drive, I won't mind."

"Well yeah, if you want your truck wrapped around a tree, that's one way to do it."

"I've had my previous car wrapped around a lorry so I'd rather not renew the experience, thank you very much." said Molybdenum with a smile.

"I figured."

"That much of a bad driver?"

"No, I just can't do monotonous drives like this one, I'd fall asleep immediately."

"You don't look like you needed to drive for that."

"I know, that's why I don't want to drive, driving should be eventful, a drive in town is, a motorway is agony. That said I'd rather have that than riding with crazy Plutonium, she'd turn the dreariest journey into an adrenaline-pumping experience, and not in a good way."

Molybdenum chuckled "She has quite an exuberant driving style."

"'Exuberant'? She drives like a complete lunatic you mean. You're way safer, Molybdenum."

"Thank the maddening calmness of the motorway, at least I got some time to think."

"Useful time?"

"Yeah."

The response announced a follow-up, so Neptunium quietly waited for it.

"Do you like Uranium?" asked Molybdenum, the bluntness of the question took Neptunium by surprise.

"I-what?"

"Do you like Uranium?"

"What do you mean by 'like'?"

"You know what I mean." Molybdenum said that while looking straight in Neptunium's eyes, Neptunium blushed and looked away. Some minutes of silence passed before Neptunium gave an answer.

"I...did" she said, not looking at Molybdenum.

"You don't anymore?"

"I do, but I guess not in the same way...Uranium is so cool, kind and knowledgeable, so of course I had a crush on her, but it was more of a fangirl crush; I knew Uranium had someone she liked, and even if that person had been me, I don't think I had the appropriate maturity for a relationship with her."

"You don't have regrets?"

"No, why would I? All I wanted was to be around my beloved cousin, and that's what I got. Sure I had feelings for her, but things have changed, and I realized that they weren't really romantic after all."

"What made you realize that?"

Neptunium got very embarrassed, she tried to say something, but couldn't finish her sentence, making Molybdenum realize how pushy she was.

"Sorry Nep, I got ahead of myself...it's just that lately I'm having trouble figuring out what's going on with me, and since you seem to have a good view of yourself, I figured-"

"It's you and Technetium." said Neptunium softly.

"What?"

"You and Technetium, you two became so close to Uranium so easily, it made me realize how my crush was something so superfluous."

"Feelings are not superfluous."

"They are if they're misinterpreted, your arrival made my feelings evolve into something more nuanced, more defined and somewhat truer."

"Truer?"

"I don't know how to describe it, like if my admiration for Uranium got rid of the foolish romantic appearance, and became more raw and honest."

"I see..."

"And there's also something else on the romantic side..." Neptunium didn't continue and was so red she was glowing slightly, Molybdenum figured she was thinking about Technetium, but decided not to press her on the subject. 

"I admire you." said Molybdenum.

"Me? why?"

"You're so level-headed about this, I wish I was like that, but all I seem to do is just run in circles in my head."

"It's about Uranium, isn't?"

"Yeah..."

"You love her, right?"

"I do, but I'm not doing a very good job at assuming it."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know, things sort of just happened between us and then settled in a weird status quo where we're close but not intimate, and this situation is getting increasingly more annoying."

"Do you hate me?"

"No! Why would I?"

"Well I kind of fancied Uranium for a while, so maybe you saw me as a rival."

"I did, to be brutally honest" it had cost Molybdenum to say that, but she felt that saying it was the right thing to do "but I don't anymore."

"You're sure?"

"Yes, it was childish of me to be jealous of you in the first place, and that jealousy was just me trying to run away from the fact that I was the heart of the problem by finding excuses and blaming scapegoats."

A minute passed before Neptunium replied "You know you don't really need to admire me."

"How so?"

"You say that I'm level-headed and all, but to be able to pull off such a detailed introspection...I don't think you have anything to learn from me."

Molybdenum was thoughtful "You think? I'm not really sure myself..." Molybdenum looked at Neptunium who had a very encouraging expression.

"I'll root for you Moly, I really think that you're the best thing that happened to my cousin, and I'll be very happy to see you and her together."

"...thank you, Nep" Molybdenum said with a warm smile.

Neptunium smiled back and a comfortable silence settled, Neptunium was watching the landscape and Molybdenum was concentrated on the road ahead. She was really happy to have had this conversation, like if a weight had been lifted from her heart. She now had much less apprehension about going after Uranium for real, now that the situation with Neptunium has been cleared up.

The hour of travel left passed quite quickly; they had a discussion about their upcoming job until they reached the port. It was a rather sizeable one, an enormous complex of wharves, cranes, boats, railways and thousands of containers. After some more time in the maze of the port, they arrived at the hotel. They proceed to unload Fermium from the truck's bed and then settled in their room. Molybdenum immediately proceeded to the bath, and afterwards went to the hotel's massaging rooms. She came back two hours later feeling like she was alive again, the weariness of the trip had dissipated and her head was much clearer. She went back in her hotel room and found Fermium sitting on an armchair, not moving. Molybdenum guessed she was communicating long distance with a gynoid, so she sat on the bed, waiting for the gynoid to finish. 

She observed Fermium, she's quite big; she is much taller than Einsteinium while still human sized and her muscles are more developed. This is because she was made for heavy manual labour, she was also made of tougher materials giving her greater environmental resistance, especially to heat. Aside from the size difference, her body structure is the same as Einsteinium's and the colour scheme is also quite strong; her muscles are grey blue and her skeleton is dark magenta, Molybdenum swore she saw that combination somewhere but couldn't recall where. Fermium's face had the same distinctive three-eyed look as Einsteinium, only this time they were mallow...Molybdenum wondered how Thorium chooses the colours, does she play darts on a colour spectrum? She might as well. This colourful body was covered by clothes, as the 'new gynoids' dress in human clothes, and Fermium was presently wearing a white tank top and blue camo fatigues pants.

After a while, Fermium turned to Molybdenum "Welcome back. Did you have a good time?"

"A wonderful one, the massages here are truly magnificent. Neptunium's not here?"

"No, she went out for a walk."

"Oh I see." Molybdenum then stayed silent and kept gazing thoughtfully at the furniture, until Fermium's voice woke her from her thoughts.

"Is something the matter?" Fermium had a perfectly made slightly worried expression.

"Err...not really, why are you asking?"

"You have a thoughtful expression, like something is in your mind, is it about the upcoming job?"

"No, I'm not worried about that at all Fermium, I know you'll do a stellar job, don't worry. I do keep thinking of something, but it's mostly sorted out."

"Is it about Uranium?"

Molybdenum suddenly reddened "HOW DO YOU KNOW?"

"I'm always watching you, and since you're always with her, I deduced it was about her."

"Watching me? Why?"

"To learn about proper behaviour, I was initialized with minimal knowledge so that I would learn about the world by myself, and since I'm mostly around you, you're my primary example" Fermium was bashful since Molybdenum looked upset "...should I not have done that?"

The explanation took the wind out of Molybdenum's sails; it just dawned on her that she didn't have much knowledge of the gynoids' psyche. Of course she knew that because Fermium was often with her, she would've picked some things up. After all, even the more rudimentary gynoids picked up things from their 'human caretaker' so to speak You could see some of Tantalum in Berkelium, and Uranium's influence was definitely present in Californium...but she didn't realize how a gynoid actually needs to look up to a role model in order to develop herself.

"Err-no you can" uttered Molybdenum, still surprised "it's just that I didn't realize I had such a role for you."

"You're my caretaker, Molybdenum. I was made for assisting you, I'm almost always around you and you've always been good to me, so I always look up to you to adjust my behaviour. I've seen that lately you've been preoccupied with something, and since you're close to Uranium, I figured you were concerned about her."

Molybdenum stayed silent, Fermium was quite sharp and she was a bit taken aback by this side of her.

"Fermium, what do you think me and Uranium are?"

The gynoid hesitated "I would assume you and Uranium are a couple."

Molybdenum lifted an eyebrow "Really?"

"Well I don't have many references about the matters of love, I do know some definitions, but Promethium told me love is mostly felt and can only superficially be described. But you and Uranium are what matches my concept of a couple...is it correct?"

"Somewhat...the thing is that our relationship has many attributes of a couple, but it's still 'not official'." She paused and stared silently at the floor for a minute "Actually it's what has been on my mind lately; we're a couple but it's a quiet, untold fact, and it's quite weird actually. At first I thought that specifically being in a relationship with Uranium is what bugged me, and in some ways it was true in the beginning. Nowadays I'm actually yearning for her, but I'm hampered by this weird reflexive respect of this arbitrary boundary between me and her...I deluded myself in thinking that what we had was enough for me, because at the start it was comfortable; I had Uranium around me without the stress and the expense of actually being in a relationship, but I've come to realize that I don't want to just be _around_ her, I want to be _with_ her...I guess since I've never really been in a full relationship, that thought scared me, but the more I think about it, the more appealing an actual relationship with Uranium is becoming, and the apprehension is fading."

Molybdenum stopped, out of breath, and stayed there looking at the floor. After a long beat, Fermium walked over to her, keeled down, and hugged her gently, mindful not to crush her with her powerful arms. Molybdenum returned the hug, it was a weird sensation as she could feel Fermium's synthetic muscles through her tank top, but Molybdenum took great comfort in the gynoid's embrace. After a few minutes, the gynoid pulled out of the hug and had a worried expression.

"Hum, I hope it wasn't inappropriate, I mean, I often see you hug Technetium for comfort, so I did the same but-"

Molybdenum put a finger on Fermium's lips and said with a gentle expression "Hugging the people you care about is never inappropriate, Fermium...well except if they're busy with something else, but generally speaking, showing affection to your loved ones is never a bad idea."

"Understood." said Fermium while standing up. Molybdenum stood up as well and pulled Fermium into a hug, however the height difference was really noticeable in this position.

"Thank you Fermium" she said "and don't worry about me, I _will_ act on my feelings for Uranium, I'll make her mine...and make me hers."

* * *

A few days later, Molybdenum was back from the port. As expected, Fermium did her part brilliantly and was really happy that her first time working outside had gone well. The return trip had been as mind-numbing as the outward one; Molybdenum was spent and only wanted to lie down and close her eyes. After having dropped Neptunium at Uranium's lab, she went straight home to get some rest, dived into the bed and immediately fell asleep. It wasn't until the early evening that she emerged, her mind still hazy but nevertheless more alert. She got up, climbed down the stairs and proceeded to the kitchen to make herself some tea. As the water began to boil, she was wondering what would be her plans for the evening. Of course she needed to see Uranium but that wasn't a pressing emergency; she wouldn't go back to work until two days, so she could worry about that tomorrow. For now, she wondering what her daughter was up to, Molybdenum wanted to see her, but she wasn't home, so she gave her a call.

"Hello Mrs. Molybdenum." answered a voice in the phone

"Tech-err...Terne?"

"Yes, how are you?"

"Good, very good, where's Techy?"

"Behind the wheel, so I picked up."

"Oh ok, very good. Say Terne where are you girls?"

"We went to the cinema, with Steel."

"All right, when do you think you'll be back?"

"We're on own way. Techy already dropped Steel at her house and we're almost at mine, I think she'll be back in twenty-ish minutes."

"All right Terne, thank you, and be careful."

"Always Mrs. Molybdenum, bye."

Molybdenum returned the goodbye and hung up. She waited for Technetium by savouring a delightfully reinvigorating tea and absently playing on her phone. Half an hour later, an engine rumble announced Technetium's arrival, and a few moments later, the young girl barged in the house and tackled Molybdenum with a strong hug.

"Mom! You're finally back!"

"I've missed you too honey" said Molybdenum while returning Technetium's hug and caressing her daughter's head "was the movie good?"

"Very much so, and it was awesome to hang out with Steel and Terne again, we haven't done that in forever."

Molybdenum pulled out a bit in order to see her daughter's face. Technetium was beaming, and Molybdenum could never get tired of looking at her smile "I'm really delighted to see you happy, Techy."

Technetium smiled bashful and buried her face in Molybdenum's shoulder "I love you, mom." she said with her voice muffled.

"I love you too, dearest." Molybdenum softly replied.

They stayed like that for some time until Technetium pulled out of the hug and they both sat on the couch.

"So how did it go?"

"Very well, Fermium did a flawless job."

"Awesome, she looked apprehensive about that."

"She really doesn't need to, but I guess that like us, she has an inherent apprehension of the unknown."

"Maybe, but mainly it was because she was afraid of letting you down."

"You think?"

"Jeez mom you're quite thick about some things! For Fermium you're her alpha and omega!"

"Yes, I only realized that recently..."

"That job wouldn't have been anything special for her normally, but you were there to supervise, so she took extra care to not muck it up, she's really human-like and worries about this kind of stuff."

"Wow, you really read her well."

"What can I say? I'm always around the gynoids, they're fascinating, they have a completely different outlook on the world, yet have fairly relatable concerns."

"I'm quite proud of you actually, they really need someone who understands them."

Technetium didn't respond, she kept staring at her mother "You're hiding something aren't you?"

"What? I-"

"Don't try to play dumb, mom, the gynoids aren't the only ones I watch. You've been thinking about something lately."

"Actually I-"

"Is it about Uranium?"

Molybdenum blew up; it was the third time in a few days that somebody had hit the bullseye about what was bothering her "WHY DOES EVERYBODY KNOW THAT I'M THINKING ABOUT URANIUM?"/p>

"Well, because everybody knows you're head over heels for her."

Molybdenum was holding her head in her hands "Am I really that obvious?"

"Yes you are, its clear from how you behave around her. You want her real bad don't you?"

"Yes but I...WAIT WHY AM I SAYING THIS TO MY DAUGHTER?"

"Because I'm already grown up and I can hear these things. Plus we've always been close and we often talk to each other about our problems."

"Yes but...I've never talked about my love life to you before."

"Because I was a child, but I'm not one anymore, so you can talk to me mom...I want you to talk to me."

"Right...well I've decided to confess to her."

Technetium significantly lit up "Really? That's awesome!"

"Too early to tell, but the matter just kept bugging me over, and over again, so it's time to put it to rest."

"I'm so proud of you, mom. I've been wanting you and Uranium to hook up since forever, now you two will really be my parents."

Molybdenum got slightly redder "Yeah...I guess so."

"So shouldn't you be on your way then?"

Molybdenum looked her with a questioning expression "On my way? To where?"

"To Uranium's, duh!"

"Oh that, well it can wait for tomorrow can't it? I mean there's no real ru-" Molybdenum stopped as Technetium's face was inches from hers and had a menacing look.

"No." Technetium said simply.

Technetium stood up and used her powerful synthetic arms to pick up and lift her mother despite being the shorter of the two.

"Techy! What the hell are you doing?" Molybdenum protested.

"You're going to see Uranium and you are tapping that TONIGHT." commanded Technetium.

"What? You're crazy! I-"

"You're going now and there's no arguing about it!"

Molybdenum continued her protests as Technetium walked to the door, opened it, and then dumped her mother next to her truck.

"I'm going back in and I'll lock the door, you have no choice but spend the night at Uranium's."

"Why are you doing that?" moaned Molybdenum.

Technetium smiled, and pulled her mother for a kiss in the cheek "Because I love you, mom." she then opened the truck's door, shoved Molybdenum inside, and went back to the house while chirping a wish for her mother her mother to spend a 'good night, and _not necessarily of rest_ '.

As Technetium slammed the door, Molybdenum sighed heavily; Technetium had always been like this, but with Thorium around, it only got worse. Oh well, she did that because she cared, so Molybdenum didn't really mind. Molybdenum started up her truck and drove off to Uranium's laboratory. Once there, she got announced by Californium to an Uranium working on a gynoid body. It was the upcoming Element 101, and it was at a quite advanced stage; all the muscles were present on the electric blue skeleton and this time, they were bright white. Molybdenum also spotted Element 102, not quite as advanced as 101; only its bright red synthetic skeleton was completed. As soon as she entered, Uranium went over to greet her.

"Hi Moly! You're back already?"

"Huh, yeah, am I bothering you Ura?" Molybdenum said that while looking at the gynoid's body.

"No, not at all, you're never bothering me Moly. I always got time for you."

"Thanks."

"When did you arrive? I thought you were to set off today from the port."

"A few hours ago."

"You didn't need to go out of your way to see me. You should rest, Moly."

"Well it was somebody else who made me go out of my way. Besides I already took a nap and had some tea, so I'm okay. I need to talk to you, Ura."

"Sure, let's go to the living room."

They quietly made their way through Uranium's lab, the moment was approaching, and Molybdenum got a bit nervous. Nothing should go wrong, but you never know. Once in the living room, Uranium sat on the couch, and Molybdenum, rather than going for the armchair as she usually does, sat next to Uranium on the couch. In the process, she caught a flash of surprise on Uranium's face.

"So what's the matter, Moly?" said Uranium lightly.

"Ura...when are we going to drop the act?"

Uranium was a bit surprised "Act? what act?"

"About us, we became really close, but we're not 'officially' a couple. We clearly fancy each other, but neither tried to go further, sure you like to tease me and get a rise out of me, but you never take it beyond that." as Molybdenum was talking, Uranium was mostly looking down, occasionally shifting her gaze up to look at Molybdenum "We just can't keep circling around each other, Ura, well at least I can't, not anymore. I deluded myself enough, sufficiently blamed irrelevant factors, but now I'm forced to see the raw truth..." Uranium was looking down, so Molybdenum took Uranium's head in her hands and forced her eyes into Uranium's, looking intensely in her bright green eyes "I like you Ura, no...I _love_ you, I want to be with you properly, with all of you, I don't want that awkward not-relationship anymore..."

Uranium cut her off by pulling her in for a fierce kiss, pressing her lips on Molybdenum's. Molybdenum was a bit surprised but immediately returned the kiss, joining her tongue with Uranium's. At that moment, all the sexual tension broke free and the two women shared a very long, passionate and vigorous kiss, it was what they always wanted to do, but were too afraid to change the situation. Now that things were cleared up they could express their desire, and their hands started to wander, caressing each other eagerly while still lip and tongue locked. The kiss was very long, Uranium had pinned down Molybdenum on the couch and continued working her tongue in harmony with Molybdenum's, savouring every bit of pleasure as she could and making sure Molybdenum could do the same. After several minutes, Uranium pulled away to take a good look at her love, they were both red and breathing heavily, Molybdenum had a delighted look on her face.

"Finally" she said, "goddam finally."

"Yeah." said Uranium, between two breaths.

"You really wanted that, didn't you, Ura?"

"Heh you were quite needy yourself." said Uranium with a smirk.

"The thirst is real, Ura, and I need you to quench it."

"I didn't imagine you were like that."

"Well you can thank me that I am like that, if I'd waited for you, we'd still tiptoeing each other all day long." Molybdenum had a slightly annoyed expression, and Uranium looked away guiltily.

"Yeah...I know, sorry."

"Why didn't you make a move? You kept teasing me, and you knew I love you!"

"I did, but I guess I didn't have enough guts to pursue you for real, I kept waiting for you to sweep me off my feet."

"That's a bit selfish you know."

"I know, I'm sorry, but you see, I've never really been in a romantic relationship; I've had girlfriends, but it never really went beyond that. With you things are different, I know that if we kept going the relationship would be a serious one and I was afraid of that. So I stayed at the teasing state and used my work as an excuse to myself for not going further, secretly wishing you'd make the step I was unable to."

"I want to blame you Ura, I really do, and I want to punish you for that, but I'm hardly innocent myself, I've let things happen without really acknowledging their importance, and I trapped myself in a mental loop that made me instinctively preserve something that I didn't really wanted."

"I think we're both to blame" said Uranium with a smile "but I think it's a good thing that things went like they did; it gave us plenty of time to sort out our respective feelings, and let the euphoria of the success of Technetium's operation wore off. Now we're sure of our feelings, we both know what we want, and we know that what we want has meaning."

"Really smooth Ura." said Molybdenum playfully.

"For you, always, and even if you don't want to blame me, you always carry on with the punishing part." Uranium had a seductive smile.

Molybdenum waggled her eyebrows, placed her hands behind Uranium's head and pulled her into another kiss. This one was more gentle, with much less aggressivity, the two women kissed and caressed each other with more sensuality. Their hands explored the other's body, patting the head, stroking the back, brushing the shoulders, groping the breasts, fondling the butts...this second kiss lasted way longer than the first one, and they both felt dizzy with excitement. They stayed silent after ending it, only looking at each other with dreamy eyes.

"I love you;" eventually said Uranium.

"Me too" softly replied Molybdenum.

"You're so brave and strong, I really admired you ever since Technetium's operation."

"Really? I wasn't at my strongest back then."

"You were very strong still, Moly, you inspire me, and Technetium as well, I'm so happy to have you two in my life."

"We're both happy to have you too Ura, especially Techy, she's so happy now, and she really likes you. You rescued our lives, and even if we love you for what you are, that fact makes you very special for us."

Upon hearing those words, Uranium smiled warmly, leaned on Molybdenum and kissed her again, even more sensually. Molybdenum was very red and let some moans escape, making Uranium more and more excited. Without breaking the kiss, her hands started to wander under Molybdenum's clothes, feeling her skin, and she felt Molybdenum doing the same, so she responded with even more sensual caresses, strokes and gropes. They gradually went further and further, freely expressing their desire for the other's body, living every moment, feeling every touch, reacting at every stimulation, only wanting to feel and make the other feel, completely, intensely. One hour later, they were exhausted, sweaty and much less dressed than before, their faces were bright red and their hair dishevelled. They both settled on the couch, quietly embracing each other, and stayed there several minutes before Molybdenum broke the silence.

"I haven't done that in forever, you're so good at this Ura."

"You're not so bad yourself Moly, those fingers nearly killed me, do you work women like you work metal?" Uranium had a lustful smile.

"No" replied Molybdenum with the same expression "if I did, you might not make it in one piece."

"I actually like the sound of that, plus I know that you'd be here to pick up the pieces."

"Of course I would." Molybdenum laid a quick kiss on Uranium's lips.

"So what now?" asked Uranium with a gentle smile.

"I'm hungry!" announced Molybdenum.

"Me too, actually." said Uranium approvingly.

She stood up, picked the phone in her lab coat and said a few words, then turned back to Molybdenum.

"I've asked Californium to make something for dinner."

"Californium cooks really well, did you teach her?"

"No, she did herself, one time she saw me working hard and not eating properly, so she picked up a cook book and made a meal for me, all on her own. I was incredibly happy to see her take such an initiative. She always cooks now, and she's increasingly good at it." Uranium went back next to Molybdenum on the couch.

"Are you staying here tonight ?"

"Yes."

"Don't you want to see Technetium?"

"Actually" said Molybdenum bashfully "Technetium gave me the boot, saying that my only choice was to sleep at your place."

Uranium had an amused expression "Why did you do to deserve that?"

"I suggested that I'll talk to you about us tomorrow, so she said that I should do that today, and then she literally picked me up and dumped me in my truck commanding me not to come home before I'd 'tapped that'"

Uranium burst into laughter and kept giggling for several minutes before managing to calm down and speak, with some amusement still in her voice "Wow I can totally see that."

"She cares for us." said Molybdenum while gently embracing Uranium.

"I also care for you both." replied Uranium softly

"And I care for you and Techy." completed Molybdenum quietly.

They stayed locked in their embrace, whispering loving words to each other and occasionally exchanging some kisses. After some time, Uranium's phone started vibrating, announcing that dinner was ready, so they put their clothes back and headed for the kitchen, where Californium greeted them and wished them to enjoy the meal. On the kitchen table were sitting two bowls with some chopsticks next to them, Uranium and Molybdenum walked to the table to see what would be their treat. They suddenly stopped, shocked; what was in the bowls was unmistakably sticky rice with adzuki beans, and that could only have one meaning. Uranium had her mouth open but couldn't utter a world, Molybdenum however managed it.

"Californium, that's sekihan!" Molybdenum nearly choked herself.

Californium had a warm smile "Yes, I'm very happy for you both."

* * *

Some months have passed since the 'officialization' of Molybdenum and Uranium's relationship. People's reactions have been varied, but none of them was surprise; Neptunium Europium and Promethium gave encouragements, as did Carbon. Plutonium, Terne and Steel were thrilled, but Thorium actually chastised the new couple about how long it took them to finally make that step. The gynoids were amazed, they even organized a small celebration party for them. Molybdenum and Technetium quickly moved in Uranium's lab, and the three of them kept living like a family. Molybdenum continued working for Lead, Technetium entered into a medical school to pursue her new-found dream of becoming a doctor, inspired by her time around Tantalum and Berkelium. Uranium's lab was now very lively, since Thorium, Neptunium and Plutonium were also living there, as well as some gynoids, namely Californium, Einsteinium and Fermium. 

There's also the new one, whose stay at the lab is only temporary, it's the former Element 101, now officially named Mendelevium. It was build for Protactinium who is Thorium's...well nobody really knows as Thorium rarely, if ever, speaks about it. What is sure is that she and Protactinium were once a couple and that they had a daughter, Actinium, but their relationship since then is unclear. Mendelevium represents the first effort of a philosophy that, according to Uranium, will last until at least the Element 103: optimizing the weight and the energy consumption of the current gynoid architecture before changing it. As a result Mendelevium is shorter and way lighter than Einsteinium and Fermium - approaching nearly one kilogram per one centimeter of height - she was also fitted with the latest in fuel cell technology, fresh from Alkali's R&D laboratories. Her sensory systems are also more recent, lighter and powerful, giving her unmatched environmental awareness for a three-eyed design. Aside from all that, Mendelevium's unique feature is that she's totally waterproof, and more importantly, can withstand enough pressure to travel to the deepest abysses. This feature was implemented because Protactinium is an oceanographer, and Mendelevium will be assisting her with that, mostly on very deep dives. On the exterior aspect, Thorium has thankfully been fired from choosing the colour scheme, and Uranium choose an electric blue skeleton and bright white muscles with blue and red finishes. Like the other modern gynoids, she wears clothes, which consists in a white tracksuit with black details and white running shoes. Mendelevium's face is also more delicate and detailed than the previous gynoids and her 'human eyes' are blue, while the vertical 'forehead eye' containing the lidar, is red. Protactinium is set to pick up Mendelevium later in the week, so it was the last few days that the newest gynoid got to spend with her family.

Mendelevium was then wandering aimlessly in Uranium's big lab, the place was busy with activity and everybody was occupied with some task. In the main lab room Uranium was working on the next gynoid, assisted by Neptunium and Californium, in the computer room Thorium was tackling some programming problem with Plutonium and Einsteinium and she knew Fermium was making the routine maintenance of the metal roof. Mendelevium was bored, her tests and check-ups were over, and she was ready to dive - literally - into her work, but these days in-between were rather uneventful. She couldn't even hang out with Technetium as she was working hard at the medical school. She eventually found herself in the big living room as she absently looked at a big blueprint displayed on the wall titled 'Element 61 - Autonomous anthropomorphic robotic unit prototype' that looked exactly like Promethium's physical platform. While she was contemplating the robot's neck junction, a voice caught her attention.

"Hey Mendelevium, are you okay?"

Mendelevium turned to look at Molybdenum.

"Yes Mrs. Molybdenum, do I seem unwell?"

"You do look somewhat joyless, maybe something's bothering you."

"Nothing, really, it's just that everybody except me is busy with something, and I don't quite know what to do until Mrs. Protactinium comes."

"Does that bother you?"

"Somewhat yes, I mean I feel the urge to do something, to be useful,, but presently, there's nothing I can really do, it's..." Mendelevium had trouble finding her words.

"Frustrating?" offered Molybdenum.

"Yes, but I don't want to make a fuss about it, so I just try to kill time."

"I see, well it's only temporary, you'll be able to fully express yourself soon enough."

"Yes, you're right."

"Are you apprehensive?"

"No, but I think I'll miss living here."

"Well I guess flying the nest is always a trial for humans and gynoids alike."

"Yes, everyone here is so inspiring, so close to each other...Protactinium is very kind and I look forward to be with her, but she works mostly alone, so I'll miss being surrounded by people."

"The change will surely be a bit unsettling, but adapting to change is just part of life, sometimes you plan to change things, sometimes things change without you having a say in it, but we find another path and we power through."

"I believe you talk from experience."

"I wasn't talking about me specifically, but yes, I do know what life is capable of throwing a you; a cold night after a rainy day, some ice on the road and in an instant, your world crashes and burns...luckily, I had people to support me and help me and my daughter. And Uranium, my beloved Uranium, who did so much for me and Techy."

"I really admire your relation with Uranium, it's so earnest."

Molybdenum laughed softly "Now yes, but for quite some time it was actually more of a play, a comedy, and both Uranium and I were its actors. However, things also changed here and our relationship evolved to be what it is now, who knows maybe what you will experience with Protactinium and the people you'll meet will make you look back at the change as an opportunity to grow, to be better."

Mendelevium was thoughtful for a minute before replying "You're really philosophical, Mrs. Molybdenum."

"Life gave me some things to think about" said Molybdenum with a shrug "after all that happened, I've come to realized that the most important thing is loving and supporting the people you care about...oh that and regularly shatter the boundaries of applied science." she added with a wink.

The gynoids smiled "Thanks Molybdenum, I'll follow your wisdom."

"Somebody else's wisdom work as early guidelines" Molybdenum put an encouraging hand on Mendelevium's shoulder "you'll eventually learn to make your own wisdom."

Mendelevium nodded and they both stayed silent, staring at the blueprint. Molybdenum's words were resonating in her positronic brain, she understood them but felt she didn't really grasped all their implications...surely a lack of experience problem, one she was determined to solve, she was now really looking forward to discovering the world and Protactinium's arrival couldn't come soon enough.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sekihan is a traditional japanese meal, usually served on special occasions, like celebrations. Californium made sekihan because she also shipped MoU like the rest of us.


End file.
